


Part 1

by Fibi94



Series: A Love that Never Leaves [1]
Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Genre: Multi, Set after ep 9, everything and nothing changes after that.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-07-10 02:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 38,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19898236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fibi94/pseuds/Fibi94
Summary: Harry is stuck in Tartarus and all Macy can think of is him. She is ready to crack hell open for him and it scares her.





	1. Chapter 1

It was way past midnight; the gifts under the tree had remained unopened, his sweater still thrown carelessly on the armrest of the couch. She gets up and walks downstairs. Small things, reminders of his existence scattered around the dark and empty house, she can hear the soft sobs coming from Maggie’s room, she wants to go, to hold her little sister, promise her things will be okay but she can’t lie to her. Not after what had happened with Parker. She pulls herself away, Mel’s room is silent, no light under her door, no sobs, no noise, nothing. She worries, could Mel have done something irrational, something stupid? She shakes her head a little too hard, Mel, as irrational as she might be would never do anything dangerous, not right now, not with Harry in Tartarus and Maggie slowly crying herself away.

She walks down the stairs, the last step creaks loudly and she’s finally lived in the house long enough to remember to avoid it. She gets in the living room, just hours earlier, Galvin was sitting on the couch, drinking glass after glass of Coquito with Harry, both of them happy and safe. She sits down right next to the Christmas tree Harry decorated earlier under the ever watchful eye of Maggie who was willing to sit back and dictate where all the colors should go. His sweater is inside out thrown carelessly on the armrest, she picks it up, the material is soft, silky even, she doesn’t know why but she expected it to be itchy, a little harsh maybe, after all, that’s how all the Christmas sweaters she ever tried on felt. She doesn’t know why but she brings the material closer to her nose, it smells like Harry, her mind reminding her that he wasn’t gone long enough for his scent to disappear, he smells of sandalwood and honey, she could see some stains he got when he was fighting Hunter. Hunter who pulled him down to hell with him.

She clutches the sweater vest tightly, she wants to see him, she wants him to be safe and return home, to them soon, “Harry” she says his name softly, she remembers back at the beginning when he insisted that he only orbs when they call out his name with purpose, a sad chuckle leaves her lips. “He’s not coming, I tried.” She looks up shocked, Mel is leaning on the opening across from the tree. “I tried calling him earlier.” She walks towards Macy and sits down on the other side of the couch, she’s gripping a cup of, what smells like tea, tightly in her hands, Macy knows from the steam raising that it must be burning her palms, but Mel doesn’t seem to mind, or care maybe.

“How’s Maggie?” Macy asks, her hands still gripping the sweater tightly.

“Maggie.” Mel says, “She hasn’t stopped crying.” She says softly. “She called Harry too, in her sleep…” Mel’s voice fades out, when she speaks next there’s an underling fear lacing her voice “I don’t think he can hear us.” Macy is biting the inside of her cheek so hard she can feel the blood on her teeth, Mel seems to have noticed her winch of pain that escaped her.

“We’ll get him back.” She says, Macy is surprised when she reaches over and places a hand over hers, still clutching Harry's sweater. Her hand is warm, too warm, a little wet from the steam coming from the cup.

“You know,” she starts, Macy looks to her sister, it’s probably the first time she doesn’t see any other underlining emotions other than love, and maybe a little sadness which seemed to be lingering in her eyes these days, “I’m here to talk sis.” She says.

�

Macy waited for Mel’s door to close before she got up to go to her room, she was still holding Harry's sweater in her hand, she doesn’t know why but she does. Her phone on her nightstand buzzes, she takes a look on the screen and sees Galvin’s picture coming up, she knows she should answer it but she doesn’t. She wonders what is wrong with her, she went after Galvin hard, even when she knew she should let go and now that he was hers, now that they were in a semi relationship she just keeps trying to find reasons to avoid him. She tells herself it’s because Harry is in Tartarus, he was amongst the worse of the worst, creatures that would love to kill a whitelighter for fun. She tries to believe that it’s got nothing to do with Galvin and their relationship. Macy puts on her pajamas, she left Harry's sweater on her bed, she carefully picks it up and turns it the right way, carefully folding it and placing it on the ottoman in front of her bed.

Her bed is cold, and she buries herself deeper in her blankets trying to find a more comfortable position to sleep. It takes her a while to fall asleep, her mind is working overtime, and they need to read the book of shadows more, there might be something. She plans on reading the book cover to cover first thing tomorrow, surely there must be something in this tome, it was supposed to hold all the information they need. She forces her eyes to close, turning her head away from his Christmas sweater, he has been in Tartarus for a little less than four hours but to her it feels like it’s been years since she heard his voice, saw his face…

When she opens her eyes everything around her is white, it’s a soft cloudy white, she’s looking around her confused, what is happening? “Hello?” she says, her voice echoing all around her, “Harry?” she doesn’t know why this is the first name out of her lips, it shocks her, a lot but she shakes her head, a figure is walking towards her, it’s tall and the closer it gets the less it looks like Harry, on one hand she finds her throat closing, she really hoped it would be him, on the other the figure looked a lot like a ghost that it gave her some frivolous hope that he was alive and well.

“Macy” the figure was close enough now, she looks at the face in front of her, she has seen it in pictures and videos a lot of times, she knows it well, but it still belongs to a woman she has never actually met. “M… mom?” her voice breaks a little, the woman is now close enough to touch, she wants to raise her arm and touch her but she remembers Harry and the imposter demon, “Is it really you?” she asks.

Marisol smiles at her “Yes sweetheart.” Macy can’t stop herself this time as she reaches over and grabs her mom’s arm, “Why did you leave me?” she asks the tears now streaming down her face, Marisol reaches over and wraps an arm around her trembling shoulders, “I was never really gone, I was always with you in spirit, as am now.” Macy looks up at the face of her mother, she wanted to believe her, she wanted to just accept it but she feels so lonely right now and flashes back to when she was younger, back when the loneliness was so strong she sometimes couldn’t handle it so she buried herself in books and crappy TV.

“There’s not much time, and I know there’s hundred questions you’d like to ask me, but I am afraid I can only answer one at this moment.” Macy looks at her mother’s face, she’s frozen, one question, just one that’s all she has. Should she ask her why she left her? Or why Mama Roz said she has “darkness” inside her? Should she ask her what was she worried about back when she was pregnant? “I have the gift of prophecy remember?” she says kindly, Macy raises her head, she was so caught up in thinking about questions of the past to ask forgetting that she had a witch that could see the future in front of her. Her throat is dry, she takes a deep breath, what was it she wanted to know the most? She wonders, but it doesn’t take her long to figure it out, his face filled her head, his soft voice, corny jokes told in a British accent.

“Will Harry be okay?” she asks, her mother smiles, softly. A look of dreamy delight slowly creeping on her features, “Better than okay, eventually.”

�

Everything is burning around him, he took his tie off almost immediately, the first two buttons of his shirt followed shortly after. The first couple memories he had seen swirling in his mind, he fought in the second world war, he was injured, a man with sandy blonde hair died in front of him, he had to kill someone. He doesn’t know if he can trust them, he knows, logically, that he probably did fought in the second world war, given the fact that he would be a healthy man in his twenties, but the way he had shoot that man in his memory, the way he just pulled the trigger, almost no regard for the fact that he was taking a life shook him to his core. He was sitting on the stone floor, his back against the wall, the fire behind it burning his back and pulled his knees to his chest, trying to calm his breathing, the air was thinner down here, it made his head spin a little, the scorpion venom didn’t help much either.

He wonders what the sisters are doing right now, Mel is probably furiously pacing, she probably has found a way to summon the elders, maybe went to the Sarcana for help too if the Elders had responded like he expects them to. He knows, deep down, that the elders were not going to risk anything to extract a whitelighter from Tartarus. He stopped believing in them that much a long time ago, maybe they would allow the sisters to try, but he knew he didn’t have long, they wouldn’t allow the charmed ones to waste more than a week on a whitelighter, on him.

He closes his eyes, he feels them sting, tearing up a little, he’s glad the overgrown lizard isn’t around; he doesn’t want to give them more reasons, more weapons against him. He tells himself not to fall asleep, this isn’t a place that allows sleep, but he cannot help it, his eyes become heavier and he finds himself unable to open them again.

“Harry” his name is spoken, a voice different than he expected, it wasn't Mel’s voice, or Maggie’s or Macy’s, no it was different, softer, maternal. He opens his eyes, his skin feels colder, the room is soft white, he looks around there’s no circular stone walls, no fire underneath his feet, he stands up slowly, awkwardly, a hand on his back helps him, guides him, he sits down on a bench and for the first time he looks at the face of the person next to him, “Marisol!” he gasps, he tries to move away, is this another mind trick? But her had on his back keeps him steady, “You are not well Harry, try and stay still.” She’s sweet, her voice soft, he remembers it, back when she was alive, she was the one who would talk to him, really talk to him, like he was human, an equal, not a tool to be used, not a soldier to be killed, but someone with feelings and needs and wants. A flawed human being, just trying to do his best.

“I don’t want to do this anymore.” He admits, in his ears, Maggie’s crying calls echoing, Mel’s determined voice, Macy’s soft pleading. “I can hear them calling me, your daughters, I can’t get to them.” He feels a sob chocking him, he doesn’t let it out, she squeezes his shoulder, “I knew you’d like them” she says smiling, he looks at her, it takes a moment till he realizes that she probably had foreseen this, “Will I see them again?” he asks, voice breaking, Marisol smiles, her hand moves from his shoulder to his back, softly rubbing circles, “I can only tell you, that all this pain, all the trouble, the hurt, it will be all worth it. Eventually.”

She smiles again, but before he has time to ask her anything else, before he can even speak or think he feels a sting on his neck, a scream leaves his lips, his eyes shot open, he’s back at the circular underground prison he was, he wonders how long has it been, his watch says it’s 4am which would mean he was here for a little over four hours but it doesn’t sound plausible to him, this felt much, much longer. He doesn’t have time to linger in this, he sees Fiona’s casket in front of him, Charity’s cold face and he feels as if he had a dagger thrown in his heart.

�

Macy wakes up gasping, she looks around her but the bedroom is cold, empty, she’s the only one here, she swears she could hear Harry's voice, but looking around he was nowhere to be seen, the clock on her bedside flashes brightly, it’s 4am, she slept for about ten minutes, she wonders is this going to be her reality from now and on? Looking at her phone she had a message from Galvin, telling her how he landed safely and that they will need to talk when he’s back, she finds herself not interested, not really, she knows she will have to talk about everything with him, she would have to realize what she wanted, she had convinced herself that she wanted to be with Galvin that he was it for her, that Harry was just the unattainable fever dream she would soon grow to move on from, but here she was finding herself reaching for his sweater again, unfolding it, holding it close.

If she was so sure that Galvin was someone she loves then why she is clutching another man’s shirt?


	2. Chapter 2

When Macy wakes up again it’s 8am, she managed to sleep the last four hours without waking up, she finds Harry's sweater still clutched in her hands and wonders did she really slept with his shirt in her arms? She gets dressed mechanically, it’s Christmas but she doesn’t feel like wearing anything Christmas-y, they weren’t going to be celebrating anything after all, she puts on her black cashmere sweater and a pair of sweatpants. Last night’s dream, the words of her mother is still spinning in her head.

She hears noises coming from the kitchen, a smile breaks in her lips, Maggie must have felt better and gotten downstairs for breakfast, she fastens her pace “Mel the weirdest thing happened-“ she says, her smile freezes when she sees the other person in the kitchen, it wasn’t Maggie, instead she came face to face with Charity. A look of annoyance lingering in her smile, “What are you doing here?” Macy asks, her tone is harsh, she can see Mel’s eyebrows raising, under other circumstances Macy would rush to apologize but right now her annoyance with the Elder was too big to do that, Charity on the other hand acted completely normal, a sweet smile forming in her eyes, “Your sister summoned me, the elders detected some unusual activity in this house yesterday, Harry wouldn’t respond.”

“Harry's in Tartarus.” Mel says, Charity turns to look at Mel, “Tartarus?” she says, there’s a look of panic in the way she turns from Mel to Macy, “Why?” Macy grits her teeth; did Charity really think that they would do that on purpose? “How?” She says her tone softer, less accusing this time, almost like she realized how rude and inconsiderate she has been. “You should have called us straight away!” she says, Macy realizes that she seems to be talking to Mel more, Mel narrows her eyes, “Yeah? How because last I checked the Elders did not gave us a phone number!”

“I will go and consult with the other Elders on the matter.” Charity says curtly and disappears shortly after, Macy breaths out and collapses on one of the kitchen chairs, Mel shakes her head and gets a tray from the counter behind her, “I have to get Maggie some breakfast, tell me the thing that happened after?”

“Yeah, sure.” Macy looks at her sister disappearing out of the kitchen; she can hear her walking up the stairs. Some of Harry's fruitcake was still on the counter, all the food they prepared for Christmas dinner there as well she looks around but doesn’t really feel hungry, she gets some coffee and sits down to wait for Mel to come downstairs again. Mel doesn’t keep her waiting for too long; she comes downstairs and pours a cup of coffee for herself before sitting down next to Macy, “So what was the thing?” she asks, Macy bites her lip, she had enough time to think about what she had seen that she wasn’t sure how to explain it to Mel, “I saw mom in my sleep.”

She looks at her sister’s eyes fill up with tears, she takes a sip from her mug breathing slowly, “You mean like a dream?” she says after a while, her voice sounding like she was fighting to keep the tears at bay. “Yeah, I asked her about Harry, she said he’d be better than okay, eventually.” 

“Weirdly it doesn’t make me feel any better.” Mel says after a few minutes of silence, Macy looks at her and nods, it was a temporary relief but the longer she was awake the less helpful or reassuring the words of a spirit in a dream were. “I wish we could talk to her, really talk to her.” Mel says, her voice breaking, Macy wraps an arm around her sister, surprised with her own boldness.

“Me too.”

�

Macy decides to go for a run, she asked Mel if she wanted to join but Mel decided to stay back, telling her that someone should stay with Maggie just in case. She busied herself cleaning out the living room, surprised that she couldn’t find Harry's sweater anywhere, she goes on a hunch and opens the door to Macy’s room, Harry's sweater was on the bed, neatly folded. She closes the door and leaves the room, she had imagined something was going on between Harry and Macy but then Macy decided to get back with Galvin and she was lost, Maggie was convinced the two of them would get together and Mel wanted to blame her sister for making her see things happen between their older sister and their whitelighter when they didn’t really happen, now though as she walking down the stairs and back to the living room she wonders if maybe Maggie wasn’t so wrong. She knows that Macy is with Galvin and she claims to love him, she said not too long ago that she wants to try having a relationship with him; she never mentioned anything about Harry.

And still, it was Harry's sweater she was holding in her room, his ugly Christmas sweater. It was Harry she was dreaming about. She walks to Maggie’s room, her breakfast tray was left untouched in front of her door, Mel kneels down to take it, a small note in Maggie’s handwriting on top of the soggy and cold toast: _I’m not hungry, please let me sleep._

She shakes her head, she knows sooner or later she will have to get Maggie to eat something, she will also have to make Macy see that she’s probably stuck because she made a wrong decision.

�

Mel spend the day in the attic, she sat by the window overlooking the front door, occasionally looking out for Macy coming back, she tried to concentrate on the book of shadows but there was nothing that could help them get Harry back, she hated that she had to wait for the elders to solve this, she knows they told her not to trust the Sarcana, Charity did it, Harry did it, but after all Jada never lied to her. She wants to go and ask her about it, but she wanted to wait for Macy to come back.

It was well after 1 p.m. when Macy decided to come back, she closes the book and walks downstairs to meet her.

“Hey” she sees Macy get startled, “Mel!” she says “I didn’t expect you to be here.

“Sorry, I was waiting for you to come home.”

“Did you check the Book of Shadows?” she asks, Mel notices how she looks away, as she slowly takes off her running jacket and leaves her keys “Yes, didn’t find much.” Mel can see Macy's face dropping as she said that, this must be the first time the book has failed them, “Nothing?” Macy asks.

“Nothing of substance.”

“We can’t give up, we can just sit around and wait!” Mel could feel the irritation and almost anger radiating from her older sister, she walks down the few steps separating them and reaches over, a hand on her shoulder, “I didn’t say that, there’s something, something else, that could maybe help, and faster than the Elders.” Macy looks at her confused, “What is it?”

“The Sarcana.”

�

Macy left after breakfast and went for a run, she mindlessly ran through snow filled streets, no matter where she looked she could see happy faces, happy noises, parents playing with their kids in their yards, a couple cuddling under a thick blanket steaming cups in their hands as they leaned against one another, image after image making her eyes burn with unshed tears. She stops at a park, it’s quiet, she walks towards one of the most secluded areas a small gazebo there, she sits down, when had her life gone so astray? She finally had what she wanted, she had a family, sisters she loves and hopes loved her back, she had Galvin, finally hers, and a great friend in Harry, who was always there, who was her rock, why was she still feeling so empty? The easy answer is that it’s because Harry wasn't there, he was stuck in Tartarus, alone, being tortured, she didn’t have him because she didn’t know if he was even alive.

 _He had to be!_ Her mind told her, he had to be alive, he must have, she clings onto any last shred of hope her mother’s visit in her sleep had given her. She feels so confused, something more is happening than Harry being in Tartarus, she wonders for a moment, would she feel the same had it been Galvin who was dragged down the pits of the earth? She would be worried sick, sure, she would be trying her hardest to get him back, but would she feel so empty, would she feel so helpless and alone had it been him?

The question tortured her for hours, she knew the answer but it was too painful to admit even to herself. 

�

Macy found herself unable to sleep again, Galvin had asked her for some time and space in his text earlier, she wasn’t really surprised or bothered by it, maybe a little bit, she doesn’t know why but she hoped that in the very least he would offer her some sort of encouragement, some sort of support but he didn’t. The rational part of her brain told her that he had to process through a shit tone of things himself, before he’s going to be able to be any sort of support to her, but right now she’s being a little selfish. She gets up and pulls her robe on, just like last night her feet carry her downstairs, she stands in front of the tree, _“The balls all spaced out correctly, according to color, all of it my creation.”_ He said yesterday, he was standing about where she was. His three little boxes still left untouched on the top of the pile, she wonders what he got them, but she doesn’t find it in herself to open her gift alone, not without him being there, seeing his reaction, she knows he’ll get this small shy smile when they thank him, his ears will blush pink and he will try to look away.

She sits down in front of the tree; she hasn’t done this since she was seven, and looks up, the lights are making her see some black spots in her vision but she doesn’t look away, “Macy?” she looks around startled, “Sorry” Mel says, “Second time in a day.” She smiles apologetically, her hands are clutching two mugs, the strong scent of English Breakfast Tea is filling her nostrils, “There you go.” She says giving her one of the mugs.

“Thanks” Macy says, she leans closer and smells the aroma infused in the steam rising from the mug, “Since when did you get into tea?” Macy asks, she remembers distinctly Mel hating tea, “I didn’t” she cups the mug a little closer, Macy understands what is left unsaid, “It smells like him.”

“You better not tell him!” Mel says warningly, “Yeah heaven forbid Harry learns you actually like him.” Macy chuckles; it makes Mel smile back “I have a reputation to uphold Macy.”

The two of them sit in silence for a while, Macy knew that there was something that Mel wanted to ask her, she might not have Maggie's powers but she learned to recognize some of the signs in Mel's behavior.

“I’ll ask you something that will stay between us but I need to know the truth.” She says, Macy looks up, she’s a little shocked by Mel's bluntness but she also knows that she is not going to let it slide. Macy nods, “We all care about Harry, we all feel lost and a little out of step.” Macy nods, she doesn’t know where Mel is going with this but so far she can’t deny that she’s right, Harry's gone for a little over a day now and she feels just as unbalanced and out of step as she felt when her father died.

“But it’s affecting you differently than Maggie and me,” Macy opens her mouth to protest, she doesn’t know why or what she’d say but she tries, “Don’t deny it, I can see it, I might not be an empath but I can see, you and Harry were closer than the rest of us, all these afternoons having tea in his office, all the time you two spend together, I’m not saying that he doesn’t love us, Maggie and I, as well, but there is something different with you. We’ve all seen it.”

“I don’t know what it is.” Macy admits, she looks away from her sister’s preying eyes “But I think you do.” Mel says, she moves closer to her sitting at the edge of the couch, her hand reaching out to her shoulder like she did earlier. Macy looks up, there’s a small smirk on Mel's lips, almost like telling her that she has already won this fight, she won’t lie she’s probably right. She probably had already won the fight.

“Nothing will happen, you said it, relationships between witches and whitelighters are forbidden remember? And I’m with Galvin.”

“Harry broke the rules once before though.” The smirk on her lips turned into a full blown smile, Macy is confused for a moment “Charity?” she asks, she knows the answer but it’s almost like she can’t believe it, Mel nods, “And he lost his charge Mel, even if he does feel anything other than friendly feelings for me he wouldn’t risk it again.” Macy almost feels worse knowing that Harry broke the rules set by the Elders to have a relationship with Charity, she always had hoped that there wasn’t much between them, maybe some feelings never acted upon, maybe a kiss in the dark, the question of what could have been. She wonders why it bothers her that much, it’s almost as bad as it had been with Summer at the bar, only, it’s a little worse.

“What am I going to do Mel?” she asks, she doesn’t say anything else, she doesn’t want to admit what she just realized herself, developing feelings for Harry was dangerous, she knew that a little too well. “Well I think first of all, you need to find out what is going on, and then, then you need to chose, you need to decide what to do about Galvin, Harry”

Macy nods “When did you became so smart?” she says a smirk on her lips, “Love does that to people, after it’s done beating your heart to death.” Her smiles falls a little, Macy knows she is still hurting over Niko, she wonders if maybe she and Maggie were wrong letting her erase Niko’s memory, surely there must have been another way to protect her from the demon that was after her, some other spell, something, but there wasn’t anything they could do now.

“I think I need to get some sleep.” Macy says, her tea is getting cold but she takes the cup with her as she gets up, Mel smiles and nods, she doesn’t seem to be willing to move from the couch any time soon, and Macy lets her be. She realizes that she left her to deal with everything pretty much alone today, she has to figure out what was going on, or at the very least get her feelings in an order because she can’t keep expecting Mel to deal with everything, do deal with Maggie's grief…

As she gets under her blankets she realizes that whatever these feelings meant now it wasn’t the time for them, she would have to push them aside, the very least until Harry is back from Tartarus.

�

Harry looks around him suspiciously, it’s been a couple hours since the last time the scorpions bothered him, every single failure he could remember just kept playing in his mind, but slowly they started showing him more and more of a life, of a past long forgotten, he saw the young man dying in front of him again, he saw himself pulling the trigger again, he felt the gun in his hand, his wrist felt throbbing as he pulled the trigger, but his hand remained steady, he felt the recoil down his arm. But he saw some other things, the face of a young woman with her brown hair pulled back, hidden under a hat, she was watching him disappointed as he was being pulled back, away from her, the police officers gripping his arms he turns to take another look at her, he wants to get to her, tell her everything will be alright even though he can’t remember her, she wipes a tear with her hand, looks away, but his hands are cuffed and the officers are pulling him away. His head is spinning, he keeps telling himself that the memories must be false, he knows he lived an honorable life, that’s why he was chosen to become a Whitelighter, there’s no way he was a murderer, there’s nothing honorable about a murderer.

Closing his eyes he can see his family, the only family he knew, or at least the closest he had to one, Mel, Maggie and Macy, he could see them happy, smiles on their lips, laughing at a joke or another, Maggie offering him a glass of coquito, Mel taking it from him, she scolds him “We have to finish the tree!” she says strictly, but she smiles, she smiles at him and it feels almost like he won the first price in a lottery, she’s not one to open up easily, Macy was baking in the kitchen, she brought a cake in the living room, he can smell the cranberry pie, he’s content, happy even.

He looks at his watch, surprised it’s still working, the glass broken, he has been here for a little over a day, Christmas almost over by now, this was the first time in over a decade that he had anyone to celebrate Christmas with and he again wasn’t able to he wants to scream, start cursing the gods above, whoever was responsible for this sick and twisted fate of his. All he wanted was to spent Christmas with his family, all he ever wanted was a family…


	3. Chapter 3

Macy managed to control her feelings better, she managed to do what she wanted and be there for Maggie and Mel, as she wanted to as she should as their older sister. Charity started visiting them daily after the first visit on Christmas, Macy can’t put her finger on it but something inside her changed, she doesn’t think of the woman in the same way anymore. Maybe it’s the revelation Mel made that she and Harry used to be in a relationship that changed her opinions of the elder, but the fact remained that for a woman who used to have deep feelings for Harry Charity wasn’t doing nearly enough to get him out of Tartarus. She looks at the clock on her bedside table and groans, she spend the last couple nights reading the Book of Shadows but she found nothing, so she ended up reading the entry for Whitelighters again and again, by now she has learned it by heart.

She wishes she didn’t; now she knows for sure that he can hear them, he can hear Maggie calling him through sobs, he can hear Mel's screams when she wakes up from a nightmare, always the same one, he can hear her calling him. She wonders if maybe she can communicate with him this way, maybe she can tell him that they are coming for him, that they will save him, she wishes she could know if it was possible but the book wasn’t clear on that, did whitelighters hear their charges’ conversations if their names were mentioned or do they only hear their names? She files this away as just another thing to ask him when he’s back, this could be very helpful in the future if possible, they could use it if they needed to. Her mother had added quite a bit on this page in the book, scribbling over an earlier entry mentioning how relationships were forbidden for whitelighters.

Her mother had mentioned nothing and everything that would be wrong about a relationship between Harry and her. everything that frightened her ever since she first realized that her feelings for their Whitelighter were something more than friendly, all the way back when he accompanied her to Galvin’s birthday party, back then she had convinced herself it was just a stupid crush, just a stupid rebound crush because Galvin dumped her unceremoniously and she latched on to the first man she found remotely good looking, now she starts having doubts on who is the rebound and it’s confusing her. Her phone beeps, pulling her out of the stupor she was in, she takes it in her hands, it was a text from Galvin _“I am in the states, will text when I’m home, we need to talk”_ it said, she groans, this day was just going from bad to worse. She gets up and gets dressed, she has the afternoon shift at the lab this week. Looking at the date on her phone she winches, it’s December 30th, new years is coming closer and closer and they still had no idea how to get Harry out of Tartarus, she had made a promise to Maggie, that they were going to change the year all together, and that included Harry as well, she wasn’t going to lie to her little sister. As she was getting dressed she made her decision, she would ask Mel to go to the Sarcana, the Elders seemed to be taking their sweet time, but Harry didn’t have much more of it.

She finds Mel sitting in the kitchen table, Charity is talking on the phone in the living room, her constant presence in their house had made everyone just a little bit uncomfortable.

“Hey Macy” Mel says, “Coffee’s warm” she nods to the coffee maker, Macy shakes her head, “I’ll make some tea.” She tells her. Mel smiles and looks down at the Book of Shadows in front of her, she was mindlessly biting her thumbnail not actually breaking it, Macy came to recognize it as a sign of immense nervousness on her sister’s part, “I want to tell you something when Charity leaves.” She says in a whispered tone. Mel looks at her shocked, her eyes open widely, she knows she wants to say something possibly a little snarky but she doesn’t she simply nods and turns her attention back to the Book of Shadows in front of her with a hint of a smirk on her lips.

They spend about ten minutes in silence before Mel slams the book shut in anger, “The Book of Shadows is useless. We've been through every arcane and mystic text. Hunter basically dragged Harry down into the Alcatraz of the underworld.” She says, Macy looks up from a book she had pulled in front of her, trying to find anything to help that she knew would not be there, “So, like Hell-catraz?” she says, she was never one to deal well with stress but she found herself picking up Harry's terrible humor lately as well. “Not funny, Macy.” Mel says but a small smirk still makes its way on her lips.

Macy smiles a little, “Sorry I don’t deal well with stress” she mutters, the conversation broken when Charity walked in the room, her phone clutched tightly in her fist. “What did the Elders say?” Macy asks instantly she was hoping that Charity would have the answers, Harry was so font of her, of the Elders, so trusting as well, so he must have known something she didn’t, he must know something, something she didn’t, Charity clutched the phone tighter in her had “That it is unfortunate that you destroyed Marisol's piece of the Scythe of Tartarus. The fact is, that scythe is the only known method to extract someone from Tartarus. The Elders don't have any other ideas how to help Harry, and...” Macy can imagine what’s coming after the ‘and’ but she doesn’t want to think about it, she was sure that Charity, the Elders, the all knowing and mighty Elders would have a way to save Harry, he was one of their own, a faithful soldier to their cause, he was good, he didn’t belong in hell’s prison he belonged at home with his loving family, with them, celebrating, taking a long deserved break from demon fighting in general, “And what?” Mel asks, her voice deadly serious.

“And they are not particularly interested in pursuing the matter further. Not for a Whitelighter.” Charity turns around and walks back towards the dining room, Mel jumps up from her seat, Macy quick to follow her, “So they’re just going to leave Harry to rot in Tartarus?” she asks, Macy is thankful for Mel right now, her voice communicating all the anger she feels herself but her shock stops her from formulating.

 **“** It was Harry's choice to become a Whitelighter; he was well aware of the risks.” She says taking the cup of coffee she was drinking from, Macy feels a small stab in her gut when she notices it’s one of Harry's favorite mugs, she feels a dark surge running through her veins, she wants to knock it out of her hands, somehow move it away from her, as if her touch was going to taint the ceramic.

 **“** Remind me again how the Elders are the good guys? You're okay with just giving up and letting Harry rot?” Charity stops in front of the dining room table abruptly, she looks from Mel to Macy, the look on her face for the first time conveying some real human emotions, “I am not giving up, I just...” her voice shakes a little but she manages to pull herself together quickly, “have no idea what to do. But I will keep thinking, obviously. In the meantime, we need you two to stay on mission-“

“Get out!” Macy couldn’t stop herself; she doesn’t know what pushed her probably a combination of the ‘move on like everything is alright’ tone and the constant irritation with the elder, “Excuse me?” Charity says, a tone of indignation in her voice, clearly not used to being spoken to that way.

“GET OUT!” This time Macy yells, she feels a rush of anger, powerful, uncontrollable as she lowers her voice and walks closer to Charity, the other woman taking a step back, away from her, “Get the hell away from us; you’ve overstayed your welcome!” she says, her voice is lower now, softer, more dangerous Charity is staring from her to Mel for a moment, Mel's face must be mirroring hers because Charity picked up her laptop and turned around disappearing through a portal.

As soon as the purple portal closed Macy felt the adrenaline leaving her body, it was almost instant change, she lost her step for a moment, Mel's hand on her shoulder, “Macy.” She says, looking at her sister’s face she can see the worry, the confusion everything mingling together.

“I need to go to work,” she pulls herself together and walks to her laptop left open in the couch, “Dr. Julia used to be married to Alistair Caine, we need to know what is going on in this lab” she says, Mel nods, “What did you want to tell me?” she asks suddenly what Macy wanted to talk about entering her mind, “Oh” Macy says, for a moment she forgot about what she wanted to tell Mel but she remembers “Oh, it was about the entry on Whitelighters on the Book of Shadows, there was a patch of three or so pages after that looked like the pages mom had written the spell we used on Angela, and I was thinking maybe,”

“We should investigate.” Mel says, “Yeah it might give Maggie something to take her mind off.” Mel nods, “Sure. Alright, anything else?” Macy nods, Charity’s behavior today just enforced what Mel was saying all week, “You were right, you should talk to the Sarcana” she says, Mel looks at her surprised.

“The Sarcana?” Mel asks, Macy nods, she knows Mel wanted to talk to them here and days, she used to be cautious, not really willing to trust them but right now that her last hope in the Elders evaporated into thin air she found herself not so opposed to the idea. “They might be able to help,” she murmurs “They broke someone out of Tartarus.” Mel tells her, Macy nods “Alright. They might know how to help; I’ll try to be home early.”

�

She knows it’s wrong the moment her lips touch his, but it’s too late, Dr. Wagner was just about to bust them stealing from her, she did the only thing that she knew might save them, a little, it felt different than the kiss they shared on Halloween, it felt almost tainted. She wants to run off, run away as fast as she can. For a moment the sheer excitement of having the flash drive in her hands of escaping, of tricking a demon’s ex wife right under her nose was so much, she throws her arms around his shoulders, his hands wrap around her waist, and he pulls her in for another kiss, she laughs carelessly trying to shut out the little voice in her head telling her not to do it. She leans into the kiss, it’s slower this time, no need to rush, no life threatening situation around, but when she pulls back she feels off again, it feels a little weird, just a tad wrong. “Would you like to come back to my place?” he asks, Macy is staring at him, she knows what he means “You mean like stay over?” she asks him, she doesn’t know how to feel, if kissing him felt so wrong did she really want to move ahead doing anything else? Did she really want her first time to be something she finds herself regretting later on? “Yeah, yes.” He says, there’s a look on his face, he’s looking at her a little worried, “Mm, there's something I should probably tell you first.” She tells him, she decides that she needs to tell him, maybe his reaction to her deeper secret, would be a good way to see what to do, “Oh, come on, it can't be any bigger than telling me you're a witch.” He says, his tone light, dismissing, “Yeah. Yeah, no, you're right, um... I'm a virgin.”

She returns home, her head spinning, she tries to remember how her sisters reacted when she told them, how did Harry, her sisters were speechless too, Harry, Harry looked worried, she imagines offering herself as bait was a little more worrisome, Mel is waiting for her in the living room, she’s excited about something “Macy, need to tell you!” Macy frowns and follows Mel to the book nook, her sister had a large smile on her face, “Jada had a way to save Harry!” she said excited, a large smile on her lips, “Already contacted Charity about it.”

“Charity?” Macy asks confused, “Jada’s plan involved Charity?” she found it hard to believe, “Well not directly, listen, she told me of a warden of Tartarus, where to find him, we need to trade something for him to give us Harry, and I thought Tartarus is a prison for the worse of the worse, so why not use a demon we have that is horrible and all, to trade for Harry.” Realization hits Macy she smiles, “The Harbinger” she mutters, Mel smiles and nods, “That’s why Charity is needed.”

“Yeah” Mel says a little apologetically, “I know you don’t like her Macy-“

“If she helps us get Harry back she’ll be my favorite person in the world.” She says smiling, Mel smiles back, her smile though tight, she puts a hand around her shoulders “You wanted to tell me anything?” she asks, Macy was just about ready to walk back into the living room, her sister’s voice stopping her, “Well, there was something with Galvin,” she pauses “Did he not took it well?” she asks. Macy chuckles, a cold empty noise and shakes her head, “No, he took that very well, he just…” she tries to find the words she needs, “He took the fact that we work for a demon better than the fact I’m a virgin.”

“Macy.” Mel takes her hand and pulls her back in the book nook, she helps her sit down on the small couch tucked next to the fireplace. 

“He probably needed some time to process it all, it’s alright, you dropped quite a few bombshells on him today.” Macy bites her lip, she knows that Mel is probably right, even she and Maggie needed some time when she told them. “But it’s not that.” Macy shakes her head, “I think that,” she pauses, what exactly she wanted to say, “I think that if I don’t figure out what is Harry feeling, what I am feeling for Harry,” she stops, she was ever one to open up too much, especially to Mel, with whom her relationship was strained at best since she moved in Hilltown, “You don’t want to regret it.” She says, Macy looks at her sister sitting next to her, “He asked me to go back to his apartment, and all I could think of is how it felt wrong.” Mel nods.

“You need to figure it out, soon. It’s not fair to you or Galvin or Harry.”

�

Mel was sitting next to her in the car, the paint can with the harbinger tightly in her arms, she was looking straight ahead, they hadn’t said much, almost running to the car to get to Dante’s shop, there was a nagging feeling in the back of Macy's head, something in Maggie's cold and almost uninterested behavior was rubbing her the wrong way, but she knew they would find the solution later, with Harry, together. And they would change the year together, just like a family, like they had planned to spend Christmas.

Macy parks the car outside of Dante’s shop, she had passed by it this morning, Harry was so close and yet, she didn’t know. “It’s gonna work” Mel said more to herself than the other two in the car. Macy nods her head and gets out of the car, Macy takes a deep breath and follows Mel in the shop.

“Hello?” Mel says, the paint can tightly in her arms.

“Dropping off or picking up?”

“Are you Dante?” Mel asks, the man they faced with was tall, much taller than her, and muscled.

“I know who you are.” He says taking off his goggles, he stands up and walks towards them, “Charmed Ones.” He is still standing at a distance, his eyes opening widely as he sees them three, “We need Harry Greenwood.” Mel says she mentions the can in her hands slightly, “And we can pay.” Dante chuckles as he walks closer, “I've come across a gaggle of ladies just like you before. Tried to offer me a measly ankh and lodestone to get someone out of Tartarus.” He says.

“What if I told you we had the Harbinger of Hell?” his face changed at her words, Macy could see his interest spiking up she doesn’t allow herself to hope about anything, it wasn’t safe after all a million things could go wrong, ad who’s to tell her that Dante wasn’t just going to take the can from them and refuse to give them Harry?

“Look at that.” His eyes were stuck on the can, his face breaking into a chilling smile. “The Harbinger of Hell neutered in some dime-store paint can. I always wanted to get my hands on that guy.” He says, a soft, almost hypnotized tone in his voice, “Don't just stand there. Let me see it.” He makes a move to get a grasp on the can but Mel pulls it back “Wait.” She says, Macy understands why “We need to be sure that Harry's still-“ she stops, he’s still what? Alive? Himself? 

“That he's okay.” She says, Mel is still holding the can away from Dante who moves towards a small old looking TV next to him he meddles with a button and a grainy image comes on screen, Macy moves closer, it’s Harry, he’s leaning against a rock wall, his white shirt is dirty, stained, he has rolled one sleeve up to his elbow, the other sleeve although folded has fallen on his arm, his shirt is open his undershirt stained as well, he groans, his hand goes to his chest for a moment and then to his arm where he clutches tightly, “What is happening to him?” she asks, the image is killing her slowly, she can’t bear to see him in such pain, “Quick, how do we get him out? With one of those?” Mel says pointing to one of the dozens of keys next to Dante.

"This ain't Club Fed there, Charmed One. It takes a special kind of man to break someone out of Tartarus.” He says, Macy can tell he’s enjoying it, they pain and anxiety seems to be amusing for him, “Well, do it. We don't have much time.” She says, Macy is looking at the screen, her eyes following every move Harry makes, “Hold your horses there, sweets. I don't buy the car without kicking the tires once or twice; it's just bad business.” She looks at him, he angrily takes the can from Mel's fingers and brings it to his nose, sniffing it “Is this a trick?” he says, he uses his ring a small blast leaving, Macy wants to roll her eyes “You won't be able to open it. It's enchanted.” She tells him, she sees him in terror as he opens the can with little to no effort, looking down she notices the clean shinny interior of the can, she’s perplexed, “Wait, what?” she says confused, Mel from next to her looks at her, “It’s empty?” she say not believing what she saw.

“No one swindles Dante and gets away with it. Now you die.”

They return home a person down instead of a person up, Mel is fuming next to her, “Why would her powers not work?” she asks for the tenth time since they had gotten in the car, Macy was trying to find an answer she really was but every time all she could think of was Harry in pain, exhausted and she knew this would soon be her sister too. They can’t let them down there any longer, they needed to find the answer and soon, they are meant to change the year together.

“We need to call Charity!” she says the elder’s name falling like poison from her sister’s lips, Macy nods, Charity duped them, gave them an empty vessel, it was her fault that Maggie was in Tartarus instead in their back seat with Harry.

“We’ll summon her once home, she has some explaining to do.”


	4. Chapter 4

Macy left Mel to deal with Charity, she remembers Maggie getting the Book of Shadows earlier because she wanted to check something out, maybe the book had the answers they needed, she walks in Maggie's room, the book open on her vanity, she studies the open page, a gasp leaving her lips, she takes the book and walks fast to the attic, the fight between Mel and Charity is going still strong, “I figured out what’s wrong with Maggie!” Macy says, her voice louder than both of the other women, she walks closer and puts the book on the stand between the two angry women, “She took her pain away with a spell.” Charity’s long finger scans the page, “These are habit forming and have serious side effects,” she says, Mel's eyes narrow.

“Like her powers not working? Yeah we’ve noticed!” she says angrily, “Guess she didn’t read the fine print!” she spits, it’s Macy's turn to be taken aback by her sister’s behavior this moment, Charity on the other hand if she was stunned to be talked to in such manner she did not show it, “Her powers aren’t working?” she asks confused, “Yes!” Mel says, “And now she’s stuck in Tartarus, so we need to get her out, you and your precious Elders wouldn’t give us the harbinger for Harry you have to give him to us for Maggie! Where the hell is he?”

“Mel I have no idea!” she says, her face confused, irritated, “This does not make any sense.” She says, her face turning more towards Macy than Mel, “After the exorcism, that paint can was in my possession at all times.” She says defiantly. Macy notices her face, slowly changing, “What?” she asks, “Oh no.” Charity murmurs.

“What is it?” Mel asks, her voice hard, cold, “Alistair Caine, that’s why he seemed familiar.” The sisters looked at one another suspiciously, could the Elders knew about Alistair Caine and his connection to Morningstar Biotech? And if they did why the hell weren’t they warned. She looks to her and Mel “He must have mesmerized me to switch cans with him.” Macy can see a look of sorrow, regret in her face, it flashed on and off in the blink of an eye, so quick that you could have missed it if you weren’t looking for it. “No one was ever able to mesmerize me before.” Macy shakes her head, “And now he has the harbinger.” She says looking at her sister; Mel looks at her “We can get it back.”

“You mean we?”

“What?” Charity says, her tone annoyed that she wasn’t included in the conversation.

“We’ll use our personal connection to the Caine family.”

�

“What happened to you down there?” Mel asks Maggie, she’s swaying in her feet, Macy puts a hand on her waist trying to stop her from falling back, she turns towards the place she knows Harry is, he’s clutching the top of the counter he looks even more spend than Maggie, she turns to Mel “I’ll get Harry.” She whispers, Mel guides Maggie to the stairs letting her lean against the banister, Macy goes to Harry, “Hey,” she tells him, she pulls his hand over her shoulders and helps him to his feet, he’s shaking next to her, and her hand tightens around his waist, “Let’s get you to sit down.” She says guiding him carefully to the staircase Maggie is waiting.

Macy helps him sit down on the second step, he leans his head against the banister.

“The Harbinger?” Dante says, Mel nods and gets to the paint can left forgotten behind the counter they had taken shelter, Macy sits down her feet resting next to Harry, he had closed his eyes, leaning away from the banister to her knees when Dante opened the gate, her hand was itching to get to his shoulder, she wanted to pull him to her, somehow let him know that she was there and wasn’t going anywhere, but she didn’t. As soon as the gate closed he fell back towards the banister, Maggie barely managing to put her hand between his head and the wood.

“What a mess!” Dante says picking up a broom, Macy takes her eyes away from Harry for a moment and gives him a somewhat sympathetic look, sure he might be a demon but at least he was a fair player and that counted for something. Harry moved from next to her, the back of his hand grazing her leg, he puts his arm on her knees “Are you ok?” she whispers, he doesn’t answer her, a small nod is all he can muster, she quickly leans down and grips his elbow helping him to his feet, Maggie helping her keep him steady, Macy can see all the damage clearer now, there’s many bites on his neck, his veins looking irritated and swollen at places, dark markings etching onto his skin, she tries not to clutch his arm too tightly, she doesn’t know what damage has been done there and is frightened to think what she might find. “I never thought I’d say this, but… I really missed you Harry.” Mel says smiling widely at their Whitelighter, Macy sees the small smile raising on Harry's lips, it’s barely there, “Well thank you Melanie” he says, his voice sounds scruffy, deeper, a deep cough makes him bend forward, it makes Macy tighten her hold on him, Maggie quickly adds her other hand on his shoulder to help him stay up, she feels his fingers touching her palm and gives in the urge she felt to hold his hand, her fingers lace through his, his hand warm against hers, even though his skin was dry. She imagines the blistering heat didn’t help much.

“I just wish we could’ve vanquished Alistair before he got away.” Mel says frowning a little, “Yeah” Macy mutters, she felt extremely uneasy knowing that Alistair was somewhere out there. She remembers something she wanted to ask Maggie, suddenly it was as if her mind started un-fogging, now that she knew that Harry and her sister were safe, back with them, “What was that, Maggie?” she asks “Some new spell?”

Maggie's eyes widen for a moment, she looks to Harry before turning her eyes down “I don’t know” she mutters, “It came to me when I read what you were thinking: ‘let love be your strength’ I knew if I could reach you guys, I could just, channel this thing between us.” She says, Macy smiles her hand leaves Harry's and goes to his back, softly rubbing circles. “You created a spell, do you realize that?” Harry says, Macy can feel the coughing before it came, she grips his arm tighter as he bends a little forward.

“Oh he’s in bad shape, let’s get him home.” She says Maggie pulls his arm around her shoulders, trying to give him some more balance and Macy wraps her arm around his waist, they walk out of Dante’s shop slowly, Harry's not able to walk any faster, she had parked the car right outside of the shop, but even that small walk seemed to have drained him, Mel opens the door and Maggie helps Harry inside, Maggie gets inside after him and closes the door, “You’re good to drive?” Mel asks her, Macy smiles and nods, sure her hands were shaking but she had two of the most important people in her life safely in the back seat, which was all she needed.

She gets in the car and can notice Harry is sitting still, his arms around himself almost like he’s cold, “Hey Maggie, I have one of Harry's cardigans in the back can you get it?” Maggie turns around and gets the thick navy cardigan “Huh, I don’t remember letting this one in your car.” Harry whispers, Macy smiles at him through the mirror, “You didn’t you forgot it at home.” She feels an unnatural heat rise on her neck and looks away; Mel smirks knowingly from the seat next to her, “We thought you’d need it, so we brought it with us.”

The ride home was quiet, no one was in mood to talk, they get home faster than usually, or at least it seemed that way to Macy, the three of them helped Harry inside, his eyes lighted up slightly when he saw the Christmas tree was still there, “You didn’t took the tree down?” he asks, “No” Mel says, “We are celebrating Christmas and new years together.” Harry nods and looks away, “Let’s get you cleaned up.” Macy says, Maggie lets go of Harry's arm and puts a hand on Macy's shoulder for a second before she follows Mel to the kitchen where she disappeared murmuring about preparing dinner. “Alright, let’s get you upstairs.” Macy says, she helps him put his arm around her shoulders and her arm wraps tighter around his waist, the stairs were narrow but they managed to get to the bathroom slowly. The way to the bathroom seemed to have exhausted him so Macy helps him sit on the closed lid toiler, “I’ll prepare the bath, the warmth will help you with your breathing too.” She tells him trying to smile reassuringly, he tries to protest, surely to tell her that there was nothing wrong with his breathing but she gives him a serious look and stops him “Alright.” He says and leans back, his head touching the wall his eyes closed.

Macy turns to the bathtub and turns on the tap, warm water slowly fills the tub, steam fills slowly the room, she turns and pulls the bubble bath from the shelf and throws some in the water. She tries not to look at Harry while she preps the water, she knows this is getting a little too close, maybe she should have let Maggie or Mel care for him, a little voice in her head reminding her that she wasn’t going to allow anyone else take care of him, not right now, and he wasn't going to let Maggie or Mel take care of him either, in reality she’s surprised he even lets her.

She turns off the water as soon as the tub is filled and turns to Harry, his eyes are still closed, she knows he’s not sleeping, but she still approaches him slowly, “Harry” she says, her hand softly touching his shoulder, he opens his eyes, for a moment he looks around disoriented and then he focuses on her “Oh,” he breathes, “I thought I was dreaming.” He mutters, Macy doesn’t know what to say, she looks down, “let’s get you in the bath, shall we?” she tries to keep her voice light as she helps him up from the toilet seat, he shakes a little on his feet and Macy gives him some time to find his balance before she helps him out of his shirt, her hands move to his pants, she feels him stiffen as she opens his belt and the button, “Want me to turn around?” she asks him before she moved to lower his pants, “Would be better” he says, Macy smiles a little, and turns around, “You can lean on me if you need to.” She tells him. “Thank you”

She hears him undress behind her, his left hand clutching her shoulder tightly trying to keep balance, “Um, Macy, we didn’t think of something.” He says, Macy turns her head puzzled, she keeps her eyes on his face “What?” she asks, “I don’t think I can get in the tub safely” he tells her, there’s a small embarrassed smile on his lips as he looks down, Macy winches, that was an issue, she leans forward carefully, Harry's hand was still clutching her shoulder and she didn’t want him to lose balance, they both could end up tumbling down, she grabs the clean towel she had put on the counter and gives it to him, “Wrap this around” she tells him looking in front of her.

“All clear.” He says, Macy turns around and smiles, she tries not to look at his bare chest, or think of the fact that he’s naked under the towel, and wraps her arm around his waist again, his skin is warm under her hand, she carefully leads him to the tub, “So, you get in, I turn around you give me the towel and you settle and I go to get you some clean clothes.” She tells him, he smiles, a soft pink color rising on his cheeks, she looks away, glad that he can’t hear her thoughts right now.

She helps him in the tub slowly, makes sure he’s steady before she let’s go of his arm and turns around. She puts her hand out waiting for him to give her the towel, his hand barely brushing hers as he gives it to her, the water is sloshing as he gets down, the back of her pants get a little wet, she can feel the pressure of his hand on her arm as he tries to settle down without harming himself, “I’m covered.” He says.

Macy turns around, he’s covered by the bubbles emerged in the warm water, only the top of his knees and his head out of it. “Just keep your head out of the water.” She says pushing his hair back a little, his eyes opened widely and she pulled her hand back as if she was hit by electricity. She doesn’t know what the hell got over her; she murmured about getting some clothes and left the bathroom, her heart beating loudly in her ears.

�

Maggie was holding the warm mug filled with steaming tea in her hands breathing in the scent, she had missed feeling so contempt, it was nice feeling home, feeling warm, feeling.

“Do you think that Macy will tell Harry how she feels?” she asks Mel, it seems that her question is shocking her big sister because she nearly dropped the kettle she was washing, “Of course you know” she murmurs.

“Please, everyone with eyes knows.” She says rolling her eyes, “She kicked Charity out when she wouldn’t do anything to save Harry.” She looks at her sister poignantly, “So what do you think? Will this ship sail?”

Mel laughs, “Not yet, she’s too confused at the moment, but I think we’re getting there.” Maggie smiles, it was the first genuine smile Mel saw in her sister’s face since Christmas Eve.

“Good, I’m sick of them pinning after each other.” Mel was ready to respond when a purple portal appeared in the middle of their kitchen “Where is he?” Charity asked as soon as she was in their kitchen the portal behind her closing, “Just to be clear, the Elders have no right to barge in here pretending they give a crap about Harry after they let him rot in Tartarus!” Mel says angrily, Charity breaths out, “This is the Sarcana talking.” She says softly. Mel looks at her, a look of distain in her face, “No this is me talking,” how she dare insinuate that she is mouthing off talking points, she’s not some blind follower of anything and anyone. “You need to leave this is family time and you are not, you can come back after January 2nd and not a minute earlier.” Her tone doesn’t leave any space for arguing; Charity turned around and disappeared through another portal. “Wow Mel.” Maggie says a small smirk on her lips, “I’m sorry I know you trust the Elders more but they have been nothing but a thorn on our side throughout this whole thing.” Mel says.

“I get it, but she did try to help us, so maybe be a little nicer next time, not to mention she is one of Harry's oldest friends, he might want her here.”

“And that’s why I didn’t forbid her from coming here ever again.”

�

Harry leaned back in the tub his head touching the warming marble, his eyes closed, everything around him was in turmoil, the memories he had seen spinning in his head, and then there was Macy, her hand on his waist, her tight hold on his arm. The way she pushed back his hair, he was confused, he had convinced himself that the feelings he had for her were nothing but a silly unrequited crush and it would be better to forget it he pushed them deep inside, he knew she was in love with Galvin, she was with him, she had pursued him intensely, she barely showed any interest in him, surely nothing more than a simple friendship, but her behavior today confused him.

Most things he could explain as her worrying for him as friend, all but one, the smell of her shampoo on his cardigan which filled his nostrils as Maggie helped him put it on in the car…

�

Macy returns to the bathroom, she hopes and prays that the scent of her shampoo or body lotion did not remain on his cardigan; she remembered too late that she had been wearing it quite a few times by the time she gave it back to him. She shakes the thought from her head, he didn’t mention anything so maybe he didn’t notice, she realizes that Mel saved her ass earlier by lying, maybe she owns her sister a big gift for her birthday. She opens the door and sees him lying in the tub, his head was leaning back his eyes closed the water reaching his chin, he seemed to her slipped a little, she walks to him and touches his shoulder under the water, the touch startles him awake, he nearly jumps up, but he stops himself when he realizes where he is, “Sorry I scared you, brought you some sweatpants and stuff.” She tells him showing the pile of clothes on the closed lid of the toilet, “You forgot them here when you moved out.” He smiles and nods, “Thank you Macy.”

She smiles, a sense of bravery hits her “Let me help you with your hair.” She says, he looks at her a little shocked, but she doesn’t wait for him to say anything else, she reaches over for a bottle of shampoo, “I hope you don’t mind the smell of Oat” she tells him as she pours some of the shampoo in her hands, he shakes his head, his eyes closing as she slowly works the bubbles on his hair, she takes her time massaging his head and neck, careful to avoid all open wounds, surely he had already emerged them in soap from the bath but she didn’t know how much it would sting and she surely didn’t want to cause him pain. She pulls his head back carefully and rinses the shampoo from his hair, careful not to get any of it in his eyes.

“Time to get you out.” She says, she reaches for the towel he had given her earlier, and holds it open “I will close my eyes.” She tells him, she hears him stand up and reaches forward wrapping the towel around him best she could with her eyes still tightly shut, “Maybe you should open your eyes before I try to get out of the tub.” He says, there’s a small tone of amusement in his voice as she chuckles “Yeah it’s better.” She says and opens her eyes, she’s glad to notice that she picked one of the larger towels, he was holding the edges of the towel closed, as he had it wrapped around his shoulders with one hand, the other peeking through the opening above his hand to grip her arm, she noticed how the towel had slipped from one shoulder, the markings she saw on his neck twisting all over his shoulder as well, she moves her eyes quickly praying he didn’t see her peeking.

She takes his clothes from the lid and helps him to sit down again, “You think you can get dressed on your own?” she asks him, Harry smiles, it seems hollow never actually reaching his eyes, “Alright, I’ll be outside, call me if you need anything.


	5. Chapter 5

She waits to hear him calling for her, her ears looking for any sound of distress coming from the bathroom, when he opens the door she gets startled, “Harry!” she says a smile washes over her face, “Let’s get you downstairs.” She wraps her arm around his waist, his hand goes around her shoulder, this time they walk a little easier, it seems like they had finally found their rhythm walking together like that.

Macy helps him sit down in the couch, and passes him a blanket which was draped at the back, he smiles at her and she can feel her stomach fluttering, it hits her that she hasn’t felt that for Galvin since she saw him with Summer. She shakes her head, this is not the time to think of Galvin, Harry was her main priority, “I’ll go check on Mel and Maggie,” she feels the grip on her arm tightening a little, “I’ll be back right away.” She gives his shoulder a light squeeze and leaves; she manages to get to the kitchen not looking back once, “Macy.” Maggie says, a smile lightening her tired face, “Is Harry alright?” she asks, Macy nods, “Yeah he’s in the living room, I came to see if there’s anything edible, I am sure they don’t give meals in Tartarus.” She says, Maggie chuckles, “Not that kind of jail.” She mutters under her breath.

“We got everything ready” Mel says showing her the two trays on the island, one with a kettle and four cups and another with some sandwiches, “That’s the best I could do with what we had in the fridge, we need to go grocery shopping tomorrow if we want to eat anything that’s not stale kale and old bread.” Macy nods and takes the tray with the tea, Maggie goes to take the tray with the food, “Don’t even think about it!” Mel warns her taking the tray from her, the three of them walk in the living room, Harry is leaning towards the arm rest, his eyes are looking to the tree, glazing a little, the sound of their steps pulls him back, he turns to them, “Ladies.”

�

That night they found it impossible to sleep, even though Maggie and Harry were back home, back where they belonged, Macy found herself sneaking out of her room and up to the attic, to find Mel already sitting by the door starring at Harry sleeping, “He woke up from a nightmare earlier.” She whispers, “Maggie too,” Macy says.

Mel nods, “I know.” She looks at her “Maybe we should all sleep somewhere together?”

Macy doesn’t have time to respond, Harry starts gasping in his sleep, she turns and sees sweat breaking on his face, “Get Maggie!” she says and runs to his side.

“Harry!” she puts her hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him “Harry, you’re home!” his eyes open, they are clouded; it takes him a while to realize where he was, “Macy.” He says, his voice barely above a whisper, “Is this a dream?” he asks, the uncertainty in his voice breaks her a little. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, she finds herself getting more comfortable with each time she does it, “No Harry, you’re really home.” She whispers, she hides her face on his shoulder, biting her lip hard to stop the tears from falling. “Oh.”

She pulls back just as her sisters enter the attic, “Maggie, Mel I am sorry if I awoke you.” He says, his hands clutching the blanket pooling around his waist.

“Nonsense Harry, none of us apparently can sleep tonight.” Mel says.

And they didn’t, not for long at least, the four of them sat on the couch where Harry's makeshift bed was, all four of them sharing the same blanket Macy finding herself squeezed between Mel and Harry, Maggie leaning her head on his shoulder. For the first time in a week, a sense of normality washed over them, finally things had gone back to normal, or at least their normal.

�

They didn’t do anything extravagant for new years, both Harry and Maggie were too exhausted for that, Macy offered to cook, Harry sitting on the table in the kitchen, a little away from the heat of the oven, but still close enough to keep a conversation with her. Mel took the keys to his condo and left, she was sure she’d return in an hour with a suitcase of clothes for him.

The conversation between them was light, comfortable, she realizes that she could get used to it, the sound of her phone beeping pulls her out of the day dream, that sweet pretend reality where they are cut off from the rest of the world, where she could pretend that she and Harry were just two people, no Elders no baggage, no nothing, a world where she could tell him the truth, an uncomplicated world. She looks at the phone it’s a text from Galvin _‘Wanna spend new year’s with me?’_ Macy bites her lip, she really didn’t want to but she was also afraid, would he shut her out again if she said no? Would he just move on and then blame her? This situation was confusing her, she really had to know what she really wanted, and if that was Harry then she owned to Galvin the truth. She looks up from the phone, Harry is looking at her, a worried smile on his lips, “Everything alright?” he asks her, Macy smiles, “Yeah, Galvin texted me something about work.” She lies, she hates herself for doing it, but she hopes he doesn’t realize it.

She quickly texts Galvin back ‘ _Sorry, my sisters and I have plans, will call you tomorrow’_ she waits a few moments for his answer, trying to busy herself with the plates in front of her, he texts her back quickly _‘Sure make sure you do I found something in the files from Dr. Julia’_ she reads the text twice, Harry must realized that something was going on, “Macy is there something wrong?” he asks, this time he’s standing up, Macy sees him still leaning against the table to keep steady, she takes a deep breath and walks to the kitchen island, “Galvin and I broke into Dr. Wagner’s office yesterday, I figured out that she used to be married to Alistair, she’s Parker’s mom, and we found some sequences in her computer.” She says, Harry nods, “Turning humans to demons.” He says remembering what she said yesterday during their confrontation with Alistair.

“Exactly” she says “And now Galvin texted me that he found something in the files we took from her.” Harry's eyes widen, “What do you think it’s about?” he asks.

“Well, I’m meeting with Galvin tomorrow, he’ll tell me.” Harry nods, “Please let me know what it is.” He tells her, Macy throws him a warning look, “Harry!” she says, he shakes his head, “I’m still your Whitelighter Macy.” He says, his face suddenly reminding her of the one she remembers before Christmas, back when the shadows didn’t take residence in his eyes constantly.

“Fine.”

�

Macy is waiting for Galvin at a coffee shop away from campus, she wanted to have some distance just in case someone who knew them saw them, she was waiting for him for almost twenty minutes when he came, she was getting restless.

“Macy.” He says when he sits down, “Listen, I know I freaked out about the whole, virginity thing, but I want you to know that whatever you do or don’t do with your own body is fine by me.” He says in whispered tone, he reaches over the table and gets her hand in his. Macy looks down at their hands, she doesn’t know why but his apology means nearly nothing to her, she pulls her hand back, “It’s fine Galvin, what you wanted to tell me? I don’t have much time.” She says, she can see his face dropping a little at her words, “You don’t?” he says.

“Yeah well, we got Harry out of hell jail and…” she can see his face changing, “Greenwood” he murmurs, “You know he’s looking at you, differently.” He says, Macy looks at him a little confused, she didn’t understand what he was saying, “Differently how?” she asks, feeling annoyed by his behavior.

“Oh come on Macy, I’ve seen him look at you at my birthday party, and he’s always around you.” He says, Macy shakes her head; she really doesn’t have time for this right now. “Galvin, Harry's family, that’s the end of this discussion!” she says firmly, “What did you want to tell me?” she asks again, this time her voice letting no space for him to wiggle out of answering.

“Dr. Julia was sequencing yours and your sister’s DNA.” He says pushing a light yellow folder to her, Macy opens the folder and looks at the papers in front of her, “Oh.” She says shocked.

“What?” Galvin asks, “I’m the half sister” she says putting the folder down, “I only share a mother with Mel and Maggie, but this says that they share 23% of their DNA while Maggie and I share 52.” Galvin pulls the folder closer examining the info in front of him, “That’s impossible.” He says, “Unless…” Macy doesn’t want him to say anything else, she already knows what he will say “They don’t share a father.” She says softly, “Maggie and I do.”

She wasn’t sure what to do with such information, she kissed Galvin goodnight hastily and turned around driving as fast as she could back home, she needed to talk to Harry, he wanted her to tell him what was it, and maybe, magically, he would once again have all the answers for her.

Macy got home and ran up the stairs all the way to the attic, the folder Galvin gave her tightly clutched in her arms. The door to the attic was closed, she was just about to knock when she heard voices from inside, Macy leaned closer pressing her ear to the door to hear.

 _“Whatever they showed you in Tartarus is not the full picture, they were torturing you.”_ Macy feels her blood running cold, she knows this voice, all too well, so Charity had not missed a minute, she looks down at her watch, it’s not even midnight yet, but she managed to worm her way in Harry's life again, that’s probably why the door was closed, she knew she wasn’t welcomed here yet, but she just could not stay away. She said something but Macy was not paying attention, she was about to move away when she heard Harry talking, _“I was a common criminal”_ he said, he takes a deep, sharp breath, “ _And I caused the death of my only child.”_

Macy clasps her hands over her mouth, this was so much worse than she expected, Maggie had told them what had happened in Tartarus, at least what she know from her side of the ordeal, but Macy would never imagine what Harry would be shown, she had hoped, futilely that he would be shows things he knew, things that had happened after he became a Whitelighter, things that he could remember, she had really hoped, but it seems that she was wrong, “ _I was a wreck,”_ Macy's hands curl, how could this woman make it about her, Harry was tortured, he had to relieve a past he couldn’t quite remember and she dares make it about her? _“I had to know what memories they were using to torture you, so I reviewed the memories we took from you.”_

Harry said something but Macy couldn’t hear it, her blood was rushing in her veins, her heart thumbing loudly in her ears, did she really just went ahead and peaked into his memories? This was such a borderline abusive thing to do, she kept doing this to Harry, kept throwing breadcrumbs for him to follow, just enough to keep him hanging, just enough to keep him chasing the carrot but never really being able to reach it. 

She can hear murmurs, they are still talking but her ears are ringing and she can’t hear much more, she leans against the wall, slowly trying to breath in and out, trying to decide whether or not to interrupt them, after all Charity was not supposed to be here yet, she gets closer to the door, her hand raised, _“Why are you telling me all this?”_ he asks, his voice shaking, Macy's hand drops a little,

 _“Cause that is what you do for someone you love”_ she backs away slowly, she doesn’t want to hear anything else, she knows what will happen after all too well, Charity threw him just another breadcrumb and Harry gladly took it, she turns around, and runs back to her room, she was right from the beginning, she shouldn’t have listened to Mel or Galvin or Maggie about what they thought Harry felt about her, but she did, she heard them and somewhere deep down she started believing them as well. As she slams the door behind her she leans against the wood and lets herself collapse to the floor, her back pressed against it as tears escaped her eyes for the first time.

�

Harry was sitting in the attic alone, he was holding Charity’s summoning compass contemplating whether to call her or not, he wasn’t going to lie he was a little hurt that she didn’t came already, it made him wonder if she really cared at all, surprisingly the thought of Charity not caring for him did not hurt as much as it used to, it wasn't something that brought him to his knees, something that took his breath away in agony anymore, it was just, that, a fact, nothing more, nothing less.

He hopes Macy will be back home soon but he knows better, if she’s out with Galvin she probably won’t rush to come back to a useless Whitelighter who got embarrassingly clingy on her. He opens the compass, Charity’s portal forming instantly in front of him

“Harry?” she says, her face showing a look of shock, almost as if she didn’t expect him to call her, “I didn’t expect you to summon me.” She says, Harry sees her studying his face for a moment before she walks closer to him sitting down on the couch side by side, their knees touching.

“What happened?” she asks, her hand reaching for the collar of his cardigan, he recoils from her touch moving away, there was a time not a long time ago that he would have leaned into it, desperate for any sign of warmth and care from her part, but now, now all he could think about was how Macy's hand on his hair felt, how it felt to have Maggie's arm around his back, Mel's tight grip on his shoulder anchoring him to reality. Now that he had felt what real love and care felt like he couldn’t find himself leaning back into whatever it was that Charity was offering him, “I found out who I really was.” He says his eyes looking anywhere but her, she leans even closer, her hand reaches for his chin, he wants to pull away but the memories flood his brain again, “Whatever they showed you in Tartarus, it is not the full picture. They were torturing you. Playing mind games.” Harry chuckles and pulls back, her hand falling limp between them, he turns and looks at her, there’s that look he hates on her face, she had it when she told him that she can’t be with him after Fiona died, she had it a few weeks ago when he was reaching to her for some comfort, any at all, but she recoiled, he knew that look too well by now.

“I was a common criminal, and I caused the death of my only child.” He says, leaning farther away from her, she moves a little away, without a doubt horrified by the man he used to be, she straightens her back a little, “I was a wreck.” She says, her voice shaking, “I had to know what memories they were using to torture you, so I reviewed the memories we took from you.” He looks at her shocked, his own mind not able to comprehend what came from her lips, his emotions confused, stuck between wanting to know more and being angry she invaded his privacy like that, seeing the memories he had lost, and wanted so desperately to regain, now she held them, she knew more about himself that he did. “You saw my memories?” he asks, the disbelief in his voice clearly audible, “But that's a major rule violation. You could lose your Elder status.” He says, he knows how hard she worked to get where she is, he knows how much she wanted it, but for her to risk it like that, for a moment he got confused, what did that mean? Could it really be that for once in her life she wasn’t just hanging an unattainable carrot in front of him? Could it be that she for once was willing to be there, to actually be there with him?

“Yes, you had a past. But everything you did, you did to save your dying son.” She says, Harry feels his heart shattering, he didn’t even knew of the boy’s name, but just like the woman with the soft brown hair and the tear stained eyes, all he wanted was to know more, to know them, to get to them, “But he died anyway.” He says, he can’t look at her, she’s a little too close now, and the doctor’s voice is ringing in his ears, _“there’s nothing we can do”_ again and again.

“No. He lived. You saved him.” she says he finally turns to look at her there was a small smirk on her lips, he feels the blood freezing in his veins, could she be right? Could it be true? Could his son still be somewhere out there? Alive? “Don't look so surprised.” Her tone went back to the one he knows too well, “The same qualities that make you a great Whitelighter now are what made you a wonderful father back then.” She stops for a moment, Harry braces himself for what she’s about to say next, he had no idea what could it be “And, Harry, he's still alive.” A sharp exhale leaves his lips, her words ringing in his mind, his son was still alive, he wasn’t alone in the world, somewhere, someplace, there was a person that was family, real family, his son was somewhere out there, would he remember him after all these years? Did he even know of him, would he recognize him? the questions too many, and his mind still too weak to comprehend them all, he feels Charity moving closer, her hand on his pulls him back from his swirling thoughts.

“Why are you telling me all this?” he asks, he knows her well and long enough to know that she is always working an angle, or maybe it was Mel's influence, he doesn’t know but what he does know is that Charity Callahan never did something without an endgame in sight.

“Cause that is what you do for someone you love.” She says, he sees her leaning closer, for a moment he considers doing the same too, but then he can hear a door slamming from somewhere below and he pulls back abruptly, “We can’t do this.” He reminds her, “You said so” she pulls back, disappointment filling her face, the noise from downstairs is still ringing in Harry's ears, he feels like he needs to go and investigate it.

“Why come now? I’ve been back for two days already” he says, Charity pulls even farther away from him, her face slowly changing, becoming unreadable once more, “Well Mel forbid me to come back before January 2nd, said this was a time for family.” Harry feels a weird warming feeling in his chest, it sounded like something Mel would say, the word family, rings in his ears, he was almost too caught up in the fact that his son was alive that he forgot about the family he had formed now, in all his years as a Whitelighter this was the only time he remembers feeling like he belongs to something, that he feels part of a family, he tries hard to think back when he was with Charity, back when he had her and Fiona in his life but he realizes that there was always something that felt off, he always felt a little like a stranger with them.

He takes a deep breath and turns to Charity, “Well” he says “If Mel told you to not come back till tomorrow; I think you should listen to her.”


	6. Chapter 6

Macy couldn’t sleep well that night, she kept twisting and turning in her bed, she had let herself live in the fantasy of Harry having any feelings for her that she almost started believing it. She left the house as early as she could that day, she knew Harry wouldn’t be down in the kitchen, or anywhere really other than the attic but she didn’t want to have to chit chat with anyone.

She tries to avoid Harry the next couple days, she keeps herself busy with work, repeating the DNA test they found more times than it was really necessary, it kept coming the same way. She knew she would have to eventually tell her sisters, they deserved to know, but how? How can you drop such bombshell on them right after what had happened? And yet as worried as she might be, this was a huge clue, for the first time since she moved to Hilltown she had such a large clue on what was going on when her mother decided to abandon her.

She was absorbed in her thoughts that she didn’t hear Galvin coming up behind her, when he put his hand on her shoulder, she jumped, “Galvin!” she says, her heart beating fast, “Don’t do that, I could have flung you across the room” she tells him in a hushed tone, she had decided that she was going to give her relationship with Galvin a go, it deserved as much after all the effort she put into making it happen, but she wasn’t even a week in and she already felt exhausted. “Sorry” he says, “I tried to get your attention earlier but your mind was elsewhere” he says, a large smile on his lips, “Yeah well I was thinking about my sisters.” She tells him, his eyes drop to the result on her work station and she sees his smile faltering a little. “Oh yeah” he says. “Well how about I take you out on dinner tomorrow, take your mind off of things?” he asks.

Macy looks away, she doesn’t want her mind being “taken away” but she knew she couldn’t keep blowing Galvin off all the time, not when she was supposed to be giving their relationship a legitimate try.

“Sure” she says smiling, she can feel it being forced and hopes he doesn’t see it, he smiles widely and looks around leaning down to give her a peck on the lips “So tomorrow, let’s say 8pm?” he asks when he pulls back.

Macy nods, “Sounds good.”

�

Macy returned home, Mel was waiting for her in the living room, “Macy.” She says, her tone deadly serious, “We need to talk.” Her voice leaves her no room to argue, not tonight. “Sure, what’s going on?” she asks. She hopes Mel will not push the subject she suspects she might.

“It’s about Harry, he’s spiraling.” She says, Macy can see the worry in her sister’s eyes, “What do you mean?” Mel takes Macy's arm and leads her to the kitchen, “Look” she says pointing to the three uneaten trays on the kitchen counter. “Maggie is up and around, he’s fading away in the attic.”

�

Macy went to bed that night with a to do list forming in her mind, first she would talk to Mel and Maggie about the dad issue, the she would talk to Harry about his issue, and then… then she would have to deal with her Galvin issue.

And so she did, or at least she tried.

But her day took such a turn for the worse she wasn’t sure she could handle it, she found herself running away from the house she called home in the dead of the night, she had died, she was resurrected, this wasn’t possible, she couldn’t be possible, as the unforgiving wind hits her face the tears in her eyes start falling down her cheeks, feeling more like hard diamonds than tears as they cut their way through her cheeks.

Her life had a knack for going into the dramatic, just when things were going well, she had a family, she had a man who loved her, even if she wasn’t sure how much she loved him, she could make it work, she made it work, and that was the moment she found out she wasn’t supposed to be there. She wonders what she should do. Should she tell Galvin? Would he understand? Would this be the straw that would break the camels back for him for good this time? As she thinks about it she realizes that it’s not such an unbearable thought after all.

What about her sisters? Would they understand? What about Harry? Would he run to the Elders as soon as he found out? For all she knew he was in a relationship with Charity by now. She finds herself in the same park she got to in Christmas; surprisingly once again she’s running away from her problems.

That seemed to be becoming a habit of hers…

�

Harry was pacing the attic, today was not a good day, he had failed his charges when they needed him, he was spiraling down, he knew he was, he barely had anything to eat, writing obsessively into his journal, the memories that were already fogging, he was so focused into finding what he could about his son that when Maggie needed him to be there, to help her with the siren that turned out to be the maestro, he wasn’t able to orb to her, he dreads to think what could have happened had Macy not gone there so fast. Would Maggie even be back home?

He grabs Charity’s summoning compass in his hands, this would be the last time he bothers her, his mind is now set, he was a burden to everyone around him, so he will just remove himself from the equation and get it over with. He summons her and turns his attention back to the Book of Shadows, he makes sure to add the part they learned about the maestro in the pitch pipe’s entry, one last thing he will do for his girls before he leaves, just a little something from him, staying with them while he can’t be physically there. 

It doesn’t take Charity long to get to the attic, “I got your message.” She says, he knows that he needs to talk to her, he needs to tell her but he can’t take his eyes from the book, telling the truth to someone else, anyone else was harder than thought, he knows as soon as he utters the words it will be real, she sits down next to him, she’s once again too close, her hand goes to his shoulder, “Hey, what's wrong?” she asks, Harry closes his pen and turns to her, “Over, this past week, I've been... Distracted from my work.” He says, he’s beating around the bush, he knows he is, Charity takes his hand in hers, he wishes she didn’t, “Oh, God, did I make a mistake telling you about your son?” she says, Harry turns around and gets his notebook from behind his pillow, “I've been writing down every last detail I can recall from those memories while they're still fresh. Anything that might help me one day find him.” he says.

“Those are natural feelings for a parent to have, hmm?” she says, her voice is a little emotionless, sure there was a small slither of laughter in it, but not much else, under other circumstances he would have asked her, he would have pressed, but right now he finds himself being too involved with what’s right in front of him to care. “But you know your commitment... It has to be...”

“To the Charmed Ones.” He tells her stopping her, he knew how could he forget that, how could she suggest he forgot that, these three women were nearly everything to him, until December 24th, they were everything, “Yes, I know.” He realizes that he needs to tell her, this beating around the bush wasn’t helping, “I'm not the man I was before Tartarus. And the slate's no longer clean, you might say.” Each word felt like chocking him, he knew by now he was too far gone to stop, there was no turning back anymore, he knew that, “The fact is, I'm not sure I can be their Whitelighter anymore. They should be in safer hands.” He says, the last part was the most difficult to say, he wasn’t safe for them, being around him put them in danger, he had finally said it and it felt like the world was lifted from his shoulders, it was as if he finally removed the hand cutting his airway from his neck and was finally able to breathe freely.

“But I know how much you love them.” Charity said, Harry bites the inside of his cheek, she had no idea how much he loved them, whatever she imagined didn’t get even close, but that was the main reason why he had to leave, he had this habit of hurting the people he loved, the more he loved them the more it seemed he hurt them, he had to protect them, from himself, before he has to bury them. Something that Mel had said not so long ago ringing in his ears now so true, ‘ _either I give her up or I lose her’_ and here he was making the same choice, he would either give the sisters up or he would lose them. “Which is why the only responsible thing to do... Is to leave.”

“Well, if you really do feel that way, then... You need to tell them.” She says, Harry opens his mouth to protest, she can’t expect him to tell them that he’s leaving them, she can’t really expect him to tell them that he will be just another person they came to love that would abandon them, that wasn’t why he had called her here, he could do that on his own, he needed her to give him an out, some way, some well constructed lie. But the hand on his shoulders tightens, “You've always said they're the closest thing to family you've ever had.” She tells him, Harry closes his eyes, she is right, of course she is,

“Until now.” He murmurs.

Charity gets up, Harry finds himself being relieved that her hand leaves his shoulder, “They deserve the truth Harry, it’s the least you can do, after you’re gone I’ll make sure they are in safe hands.” She leaves the room before he can say anything he feels a lump in his throat, this was more than he could handle, he gets up and walks to the circular window at the edge of the attic, Marisol died there, she fell out of this very same window, he runs his fingers over the ottoman there, he remembers the time he sat there with Macy after they came back from Galvin’s party, he felt an unreasonable urge to kiss her that night, but she told him she sees him as a friend, a good friend, and he stopped himself, he almost wonders for a moment what if he had told her, what if he had done something that night?

Shaking his head he moves back to the couch that became his bed this past week, he can’t afford thoughts like that, his loyalties were divided enough as it was, he would have to find his son first. He lies himself to sleep, telling a beautiful lie, that one day he could finally have his pie and eat it too, he could be around the sisters, around his adoptive family, and keep his son there too, maybe he had gotten married, maybe he had kids and even grandkids, he would be able to introduce his biological family to his new family, he could explain to them the truth and in this dream world they would understand. Maybe, he could even have a future of his own, maybe, hopefully with Macy, this was after all his own dream world so why not, if he wanted he would dream of that.

If he wanted he could dream of a little girl with her hair and his eyes, looking at him from her seat on the kitchen island he could dream of Macy walking in the kitchen with a little boy, their son, in her arms, his hair resemble more his but other than that he’s all his mother’s son.

He fell asleep the dream much better than the reality he would have to face in the morning, the reality where he would not be able to tell his biological family the truth, the reality where whatever future he dreamed with Macy was unattainable because he would not be there, he knew once he closed the front door of the Vera-Vaughn household he would not be welcomed back, not after he willingly chose to abandon the people who opened their arms so widely for him, the people that chose to add him to their family even though he was a stranger… a nobody.


	7. Chapter 7

She returns home late, her mind for the first time clear, no matter what was happening she knew that she couldn’t keep tugging Galvin along, this whole thing was too much, especially when she wasn’t I love with him, sure she loved him but no matter how deep she looked inside her she wasn’t in love with him. She also had someone in the house that could understand her situation, someone who was also wasting away and she realized that she couldn’t let him do that any longer. The house is silent when she gets back and she walks straight to her room, it’s past 2am, and she feels the exhaustion pulling at her joints.

She plans on talking to him tomorrow, as soon as she figures out how and what to ask first.

�

Macy takes a deep breath; she walks and helps Sid up, “I’m sorry, really.” She says, Sid smiles for the first time, “You seem to be in good hands” she says nodding to Maggie who was standing next to Parker, asking him if he was alright. The four of them walked out of the bathroom together, Maggie walks over to Lucy to tell her she needs to leave, Parker goes to the bar to inform the other bartender that he’s tapping out, Sid and Macy walking out of the crowded room to wait for them.

“Do you have someone you love?” Sid asks hers, Macy is taken aback by this question, her mind instantly going to Harry, stranded with Mel in the United Kingdom tortured by the memories he couldn’t quite grasp, how could she let him spiral so down? “Yes” she answers, it feels so exhilarating to admit it, for the first time to be able to say it, even if she couldn’t say his actual name, because she knew, in her heart she knew, “Don’t let anyone take them away from you. Don’t lose them not to someone else, and not to themselves.” With that Sid turns around and disappears into the darkness before Macy can say anything, she looks down at her phone, Sid was right, and she couldn’t allow Harry to be lost within his own darkness, just like she knew he wouldn’t allow her to get lost in her darkness. She takes a deep breath and dials Galvin’s phone, he picks up quickly, “Macy!” he says.

“Look Galvin we need to talk, are you still at the lab?” she asks.

“Yeah.”

“I will be there soon, wait.” She hangs up quickly, there’s not much else she wants to say over the phone, this conversation was hard enough as it was, she owned it to him to at least tell him in person. Maggie comes out of the Phi Delt building a little later, “Where’s Sid?” she asks “Left” Macy says simply, “Look Maggie can you wait for a while I need to talk to Galvin for something.” She says, Maggie smiles knowingly, “You made a decision didn’t you?” she asks.

“How? Did Mel tell you?” she asks Maggie's smile only growing larger, “No,” she says simply, “But you just did.” Macy looks down, she walked right into the trap Maggie had set her and it didn’t take long at all. “It’s Harry isn’t it?” Maggie asks her, Macy closes her eyes; she doesn’t want to look at her little sister right now she was sure the moment their eyes met Maggie would get her answer, “Yeah” she says looking away, “Well go, talk to Galvin, I’ll wait here.”

The lab wasn’t that far away, Galvin was waiting for her at the door, he had an exited look on his face and Macy hated herself for what she was about to do.

“Hey” he says leaning forward to give her a kiss, but Macy pulled back, “Galvin no.” she says, the look on his face is puzzled, “What’s wrong?” he asks, the irritation is already building in his voice.

“We need to talk, about us.” She says, there’s a smile on his lips, she got to know it too well, it’s his “trying to be seductive smile” but she couldn’t let him get his way, not this time, she is surprised when she realizes that this smile and that hand around her waist he managed to sneak didn’t have any effect on her, not anymore. She pulls back, his hand falling limp by his side, “I realized something earlier, something important.” She says working up the courage to tell him, this was going to be hurtful for him, she knew it, but she had to fix this mess her life had turned to before Harry and Mel came back from Manchester. The smile falls from Galvin’s face, his back is a little straighter, he pulls a little back.

“What is it?”

“We need to break up, this thing between us,” she pauses, “It’s not working Galvin.” She tells him honestly, it was freeing to admit it, to be able to tell him, out loud to admit it to him.

“It used to.” He says, he looks at her a harder look on his eyes, it makes her take a step back “What?” she asks puzzled, “We used to work, we do work when Greenwood isn’t involved” Macy chuckles, he couldn’t really think that Harry was responsible.

“Harry has nothing to do with it.” She says, even though it wasn’t a complete truth, given that her feelings for Harry were a reason she was ending things with Galvin, but the more she thought about it the more she realized how little weight that had in her decision, “The problem isn’t Harry, the problem is that we don’t work together, we make sense as friends, as coworkers, on the job we think alike, but in a relationship? We don’t work Galvin, I spend days thinking that the next time I will cancel a date will be the time you dump me, I had to ignore my family, Harry was tortured in Tartarus, he needed us there and I kept trying to put you first, I kept doing that to the point where he spiraled out of control. And I shouldn’t have to choose between you and my family, because my family never made me chose.”

“You love him.” he says, there’s nothing in his voice, it’s flat, he looks at her, his eyes cold, distant, “Yes” Macy says, “But it’s probably not going to go anywhere.” It hurts her, it’s the truth but it stings, “But it doesn’t have anything to do with us, I’ve felt this way for Harry for quite some time, but I tried to make it work with us, I really did, but I couldn’t be myself with you, I’m sorry Galvin.” She whispers.

“Well I’m sorry too.”

She walks back to the Phi-Delta building, Maggie is waiting for her at the front steps, “Well?” she asks, what looks like Parker’s coat wrapped around her shoulders, “I told him.” she stops, a couple tears leave her eyes, “It’s over.” Maggie wraps her in a hug, Macy stays still for a while just letting the warmth of her sister’s hands engulf her, “It’s ok sis.” Maggie whispers. “It’s going to be ok.”

Macy pulls away, “He figured it out. About Harry.” Maggie's mouth falls a little open, the shock mirroring in her eyes for a hot minute before she shook her head, “And what did you do?”

“I told him the truth.” she wraps her arm around Maggie's and the two of them walk back to the car, “Our relationship didn’t fail because of what I am feeling about Harry, it failed because we didn’t match. We weren’t good for one another, and I see that now.”

“I didn’t want to say anything” Maggie admits, her eyes falling to the ground, she was almost ashamed “You saw it too?” Macy asks, there’s a lingering sadness in her voice, “He didn’t treat you right Mace, playing around, the whole dating Summer days after you guys kissed, And” she stops, Macy looks at her confused “And what Maggie?” she shakes her head, “It’s not for me to say”

“Maggie please!”

“Harry's been in love with you for ages, he-“ she caught herself again, and finally something clicks in Macy's head, Maggie had read Harry's thoughts, “When,” Maggie looks away “Maggie when?” she grips her sister’s arm a little too tight, it makes her turn back and face her, “The initiation thing.”

“That was back in November.”

“I’m sorry Mace, I shouldn’t have said anything.” Maggie pulls away from her grip and walks fast to the car, Macy breaks into a light run “Maggie!” she stops her sister from getting in the back seat of the car, “Are you sure?” she asks, she shouldn’t be doing this to Maggie, she knows she shouldn’t but if that was really how Harry was feeling she had to know, she told Galvin she was sure that nothing would come out of her feelings, having convinced herself that he wasn't having any feelings for her at all, he was with Charity, he was unavailable, it was against the rules… a thousand and one reasons why she should stay away, but Sid’s words rang in her head louder than ever before,

“I am.”

�

Harry felt the sobs racking through his body slow down, Mel's hands were still holding him tightly, her head against his chest, the weight reminding him he wasn’t alone. He manages to get himself under some control and pulls back, it’s freezing in Michigan and although they both were in their coats, the cold is still biting, “Mel you should get inside.” He says, Mel looks up to him “You too Harry, you can’t be seriously thinking of going back to the condo are you?” there’s a look resembling her mother in the way she pulls back and puts her hands in her waist, he tries to smile it’s a little forced, it feels off, weird on his face, “I need some time, I will not be returning to the condo Melanie, but I need,” he stops, what was it that he needed? Breathing space, time alone? Would any of that help?

“Fine, I’ll let you be, just don’t spend whatever’s left of the night here alone. There’s three of us in this house to keep you company.” He smiles again, this time he feels it works out a little better, and waits for Melanie to get inside.

Mel sees the light from the kitchen being on and decides to see whose up at this hour, she has a guess. Macy's starring out the dark window by the sink, her hands clutching a steaming mug, “Hey Macy.” She says trying not to startle her sister too much, Macy turns around, “Oh I didn’t hear you, you’re back-“ Mel smiles, she sees the way Macy's eyes scan the room, the dark space behind her and she knows she was not the only person she was waiting to see back, “He’s outside.” She says, a reckless idea filling her brain “And he could use some tea.”

Macy waits for her sister’s footsteps up the stairs to fade out before she set off preparing another cup of tea, she worked fast, her world spinning a little as she sliced the lemons, she knew everything would change, she had changed from where she was this morning when he walked in her room, when he tried to cheer her, she can still feel his hand on her knee and she wonders if she affects him like that too.

She takes the extra cup and walks to the front door, her hands shaking a little as she opens it, he’s sitting on the swing in the porch his hands covering his face, hunched forward, he seems to be alright, physically at least, he hears her come out and looks up, her stomach flutters when she sees his eyes light up a little “Thought you could use that.” She says giving him the cup she prepared for him. She stands there for a moment, silent, looking at him, maybe this wasn’t the best time, he surely seemed like he needed to be left alone, “Well I better go inside.” She says turning around.

“Can you stay, please?”

�

Harry heard the door opening, he suspected that it was probably Mel again and he looks up to tell her that he is fine, but when he does he sees Macy standing there, he couldn’t stop himself smiling when he sees her, she smiles at him and for a moment Harry is certain that everything must be right in the world, she walks closer and gives him one of the cups she’s holding, “Thought you could use that.” She says, he reaches for the cup trying to take it without brushing her fingers, the memory of her hands on his hair, around his waist, still haunts his dreams. He doesn’t need to add anything else to his love struck brain’s arsenal.

“Well I better go inside.” She says turning around, he doesn’t know what comes over him, a sense of dread possibly, now that he had been in this darkness with her he didn’t want to be alone again, “Can you stay, please?” he’s fully prepared for her to keep walking, she might pretend she didn’t hear him and he would let her do that, but she turns around, the light from the moon illuminating her face, she is shocked, but she heard him, it’s clear she did. He looks at her walking closer to him, his breath caught in his throat, she sits down next to him she’s close enough to feel her warmth but still too far away. His hand longs to reach her, touch her, a desperate attempt to keep her close, keep her there by his side, stop her from ever leaving.

“Want to talk about it?” she asks him, he doesn’t need to ask about what she was talking about, Mel point blank told him she had told the truth to her sisters. He didn’t want to, not really but one look at her concerned face had him open, the words were like blood flooding out of his mouth, bleeding through the barely closed wound. He sat there, looking dead ahead, not able to look at her face and keep it together, he knew he would do something stupid, like tell her he loves her, something reckless like whisk her away to some hidden place only he could find. He stops talking, he had told her everything, about his past, about who he was, his son, what he found about his family, his biological one, he spoke and spoke until he was left raw, open like a wound that just would not stop bleeding.

Her hand reaches over, it’s warm against his, she grips his hand tightly, she doesn’t say anything, and what was there to say after all. Macy feels herself tearing up, she bites her lip, she’s not going to break down, not now, he needed her, and for once he was her priority. “What happened with the Necromancer?” he asks, she turns her head and faces him, he was a small smirk on his lips, Mel must have told him “Mel?” she asks, he nods, “She’s dead.”

“Did you get your answers?” he asks. Macy nods, “My darkness, it’s from my resurrection.” She tells him, “I imagined” his voice is soft, Macy looks at him, his head is hanging low, “She used demon blood.” His head snaps up, “She did what?” she can see the fury in his eyes, he tried to mask it, she can see him looking up, looking away, “She had a deal with a demon.” Harry shakes his head, “What are you going to do?” he asks her Macy looks away, she pulls back a little, her hand still clasping his, Harry reaches over his free hand touches her shoulder, “Macy?” she turns and faces him, his beautiful features twisted with worry, “I am going to ask Dr. Julia’s help.” She tells him, she hopes he is not going to stop her, she prays he will let her handle this as she knows, she braces herself for what she thinks will come, him protesting, telling her to reach the Elders telling her that they are the only ones that have the answers, but it never comes. Instead a smile slowly forms, “I trust you.” He’s close, distractingly close he smells like sandalwood and cotton from the fabric softener they use, he’s close enough she can see his eyes, for the first time she sees all the colors in them, she always wondered about that, she knew him for months now and she still didn’t know what color his eyes were, right now she could see the greens, the grays and the almost golden swirls in them.

He feels her breath on his face, the scent of her shampoo is engulfing him more than it did when he was wearing his cardigan on the way back from Dante’s shop. It’s a light delicate scent, she smells of honeysuckle and lavender, and he finds himself leaning even closer, he feels her hand reaching up, her palm is warm against the skin of his neck and he leans in the touch, “Macy” he says, her name falls from his lips like a prayer. Her hand moves from his neck to cup his cheek, she was close enough for her lips to touch his now, her heart was beating wildly in her ears waiting for him to take the next step, giving him the choice to run. Giving him the opportunity to pull back, but he doesn’t.

And she doesn’t either.


	8. Chapter 8

She wakes up the next morning with a large smile on her lips, she looks next to her, Harry was sleeping soundlessly next to her, he was still in his suit, sans the tie and the shoes. She looks at the clock next to him, it’s 6.30am, she winches knowing she has to wake him up, he looks so peaceful sleeping like that and she knows he hasn’t been sleeping that well in the past weeks. She could see the dark circles under his eyes the moment they moved to her bedroom, silently tiptoeing around not to wake her sisters. She felt stupid not seeing them earlier; it wasn’t as if they were easy to miss, now though as she was looking at his sleeping, relaxed face the dark circles had vanished, he seemed rested for the first time in a long time. “Harry” she says gently nudging his shoulder. “No.” he turns his head and buries his face in the pillow beneath him, Macy smiles, he looked really cute at the moment, his suit wrinkly, his hair messy, “I’m sorry, you need to wake up Harry,” she nudges him again a little harder this time.

“I don’t wanna.” She giggles, he sounded like a moody teen right now, she never thought she’d live to see the day.

“Harry come on!” he blinks a couple times, “What time is it?” she smiles he looks extremely different first thing in the morning, his eyes were cloudy from sleep, his hair messy, she decides that she enjoys this look on him. She enjoys it a lot.

“It’s 6.30 am, you need to get up.” She tells him, Harry groans again and buries his face on the pillow, she smiles, her hand running through his hair, “Come on Harry.” She nudges him softly again, he looks up and Macy is sure he’s spending way too much time with Maggie because he has perfected his puppy dog eyes.

“It’s not working!” she tells him getting off the bed, she walks to the other side and grabs his arm pulling him up, “Come on Harry, you need a shower and to change clothes and go to work!” he sits up reluctantly, “Fine!” he says, Macy smiles, she couldn’t believe how cute he looked right about now. He looks up, his eyes clearing, his face turning serious, Macy finds herself missing the fun, sleepy version, “When will you talk to Dr. Julia?” he asks. Macy bites her lip, she thought about it, “Probably later today.” Harry nods “Alright, I’ll be in my office if you need to talk.” He smiles and gets up, he gives her a peck and on the lips and leaves, Macy shakes her head smiling, she really likes the feeling.

She walks back to the bed and sits down on her side, chuckling she pulls the pillow he was using closer hugging it, till yesterday this was her bed and her pillows now she’s already assigned him a side. She smiles widely, fighting down the need she has to scream in glee, a soft knock on the door pulls her out of her head. The door opens and Mel and Maggie's heads poke in, “Morning” Mel says Maggie walks in a cup of coffee in her hands “We came bearing coffee.” She says giving her the mug, Macy takes it smiling, “Thanks”

Her sisters sit on the bed they are on Harry's side and Macy bites the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling widely, she had read somewhere that love makes people juvenile apparently it was true. She finds herself not caring at all.

“How are you feeling?” Maggie asks cautiously, Macy looks at them, finally letting the smile reach her lips, “Surprisingly okay.” She talked about it with Harry last night, the realization that she had demon blood in her veins was frightening but she had managed to formulate a plan with his help, a plan she was going to follow and she knew, she knew she would be okay.

“It feels great to know the truth, to know why mom couldn’t raise me, to know the truth about my darkness.” She takes a breath, “I have demon blood in me.”

“Well you know Parker has demon blood in him and he fights it.” Maggie says smiling, Macy smiles back, she won’t lie this has given her some hope, but right now her first priority is to see if she can take the demon out of her. “I felt how it takes over.” She says “When I was stopping Sid’s heart, it was like this intoxicating rush of power.” She doesn’t say it but she lets it hang in the air, “But you didn’t” Mel reminds her, she realized what she wanted to say, “Only because Maggie stopped me, if I ever fully lost control and gave into my darkness.” The thought is frightening her.

“You won’t” Mel says, Macy wanted to believe her, she would love to have her trust in herself. “Cause you’re a good person!” Maggie says, she smiles, Harry had told her the same thing last night, and she finds herself believing it a little more every time she hears it.

“I know I am, for now at least. Mom didn’t know I was given demon blood, her sacrifice in bringing me back was purely selfless and out of love. And her strength has given me the strength to face what I have to do next.” Her sisters look at her surprised, but they don’t ask her what she means, she had thought about the strength her mother, their mother showed, she brought her back, ready and willing to sacrifice everything and she did, she gave up her chance of spending the rest of her life with the love of her life, she gave up the chance to raise her, she gave up her first born.

“What are you thinking to do?” Mel asks her, Macy looks at her and smiles, “I’m a scientist, and we know of a fellow scientist that is working on removing the demon from someone.”

“You’ll talk to Dr. Julia.” Maggie says, a smile on his lips as the realization washes over her face. “I will.”

“That’s good.” 

�

Macy takes a deep breath and walks out of Dr. Julia’s office, the people in the lab don’t throw her a second look, Dr. Julia informed her that she had let them think she was taking some time off, rather than she had resigned, right about now she was glad, maybe in some time she will be mad but right now she isn’t. Galvin is at his station throwing her a look; she can’t read him, so she tries to ignore how uncomfortable it makes her feel. She’s on her way to her car when she catches a glimpse of a maroon coat and a slightly beat up brown leather briefcase and smiles.

Macy turns on her heel and runs towards Harry who’s seems to be deep in thought as he’s walking towards his office, earphones plugged in, a cup of tea in his hand, the newspaper under his arm. She puts a hand on his shoulder, “Hey” she tells him.

Harry pulls his earphones and turns around “Macy hey.” he’s smiling brightly, and she realizes that she has missed it, since coming back from Tartarus his smile was different, a little hollow, but not anymore. She leans closer and kisses his cheek, it makes him blush a little, “How did it go with Dr. Julia?” he asks, she sees his hand twitching as he clutches his briefcase tighter for a moment, she wraps her arm around his “Well if you have some time I could tell you all about it.” She suggests smiling.

It feels different, weird even, as they walk to his office, her arm wrapped around his, it’s not something they haven’t done before, quite the opposite actually but she feels different, and he does too, she sees it in the way he walks, the way he holds his head, it’s different and all too familiar at the same time.

He opens the door to his office and lets her walk in first, he walks inside after her and closes the door behind him, “So how did it go?” he says taking off his coat and hanging it, Macy sits down on the chair in front of his desk, like she did time and time again, she waits till he sits down at his chair, “Well she agreed. We’re starting tomorrow.” He smiles, “That’s great news.”

“What about you? How are you?” she asks, sure he looks better, far more rested than he seemed a couple days ago but she’s worried, she knows that he’s not alright, because he can’t really be.

“I’m,” he pauses and looks out the window for a moment, “I am at peace, I know Carter is alright I did what I could for him.” Macy smiles, she wants to touch him, so she reaches for his hand across the desk. “You did good Harry, you saved him, he has a good life because of you.”

�

Macy was sitting in her bed, Harry had said goodnight and went back to the attic after dinner, she wanted to tell him to come to her room, but she wasn’t sure, what would that mean? Were they even together? Could she just ask him to come to her room, her bed? And if he did what would that mean? Was she ready to actually have sex with him? Would he expect it?

She realizes that she doesn’t mind the thought. It shocks her, takes her aback, whenever she would think of sex, normally her nerves and anxiety would make her throat close, but this time, it doesn’t.

She takes a deep breath and gets up. Harry is buried under the covers on the couch in the attic, she bites her lip, Macy doesn’t want to wake him, he seems really peaceful sleeping but on the other hand she really doesn’t want to go back downstairs and sleep alone.

“Harry” she gently nudges him half awaiting him to try and ignore her like he did earlier the morning, she didn’t notice the way his eyes were tightly closed, or the way his hand had clutched the blanket tightly so when he wakes up with a gasp, pulling away from her with such speed she got scared and lost her step.

“Macy!” he says, his breath is still fast and shallow. “Did I hurt you?” he asks, she’s puzzled for a moment but then she realizes she’s still pulling back from him, clutching her hand close to her chest as if touching his shoulder burned her.

“No! No, no, no.” she leans closer to the couch, her hand reaching for his hand, he pulls her closer as he moves to the side to let her sit next to him on the couch, “I’m really sorry you had to witness this.” He says softly, his voice betraying his shame; she turns to face him, his eyes looking down at the blanket still covering his legs. “Harry” he doesn’t look at her, Macy got a little worried, she moves her hand on his chin and gets him to face her, “You don’t have to hide from me.” She tells him, he looks at her in disbelieve and she wonders for a moment why.

“Why were you here in the first place?” he asks trying to change the subject. Macy instantly feels her cheeks becoming warmer “Oh” she giggles nervously, “Couldn’t sleep, thought maybe you’d like to join me?” she feels her throat drying, waiting for his answer. Harry seems to be as stunned with her offer as she was with making it, “Oh.” He says, “If you want me to.”

“I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t.” Harry smiles widely, “Of course.” she stands up and gives him her hand, his hand is a little sweaty, but his grip is strong. They walk to her bedroom in silence, tiptoeing around the corridors, as to not wake her sisters.

Macy pulls back the covers and gets under them, she looks at Harry standing by her bed, arms awkwardly stiff by his sides “Harry you’re supposed to join me in bed” she say keeping the covers up for him to join her. Harry giggled and looked down; she decides that this is probably the most adorable thing about him so far. “Of course” he takes off his slippers and gets into bed with her, his body is warm and Macy feels almost instantly gravitating towards him.

She lays her head on his shoulder like she did last night, her hand over his heart, Harry wraps one arm around her shoulders his other pulling her closer at the waist, her eyes almost instantly feel heavier, and a yawn leaves her lips, it makes her smile, who would have guessed he was what she needed to sleep.

“Good night Harry.” She says kissing his shoulder over the silky fabric of his pajamas, his hand on her shoulder tightens its hold for a second before she feels him burying his face at the top of her head, “Good night Macy.” he whispers.

�

“We should wake him up” Maggie says looking at Harry, still knocked out cold from the whimsy overload he went through. Macy smiles and almost reaches out for Harry, she’s done it twice already and it surprises her how comfortable she is with the thought of waking him up, but she realizes that her sisters are there, it takes her almost a minute to stop herself. Maggie doesn’t seem to realize it, her hand already on Harry's shoulder nudging him gently, “Come on Har, time to go home.” She says softly, Harry groans and clutches the book closer to his chest, “No” he murmurs.

Mel chuckles, “Come on Harry we can’t spend the night here, and we are not carrying you to the car dude, you gotta get up.” Harry raises a fist and rubs his eyes, “Pixie’s gone?” he asks, his eyes half closed, “Yeah” Mel says, she reaches over and pulls his hand forcing him to sit up, his head falling forward almost as if he has no control over the movements of his neck.

Mel and Maggie pull Harry up, Macy takes the book from his hands, their fingers brushing against each other, for a moment a frightening thought passes through her mind, she could have lost him tonight, Chloe would have let Zack kill him, he was ready to, and Harry would not do anything to protect himself. How could they forget have him take some of the protection spell himself? They knew he was vulnerable to pixie dust but they completely forgot that he had presented them a way against it.

They get to the car, Maggie helps Harry inside, his head falling against the window, his eyes already closed again, “I call dips on the front seat!” Maggie says taking one look on Harry sleeping, “And I’m driving!” Mel adds quickly.

“Harry's not infectious!” Macy says, she knows what her sisters are doing, they might not know that Harry has spent the last few nights in her bed, but they both know or at least suspect of her feelings and they seem to be trying to force her to face them.

“No but he drools when he’s sleeping.” Maggie says sliding in the front seat, Mel who was already by the driver’s door smirks and slides in the car as well. She closes her eyes and groans softly, this was going to be a long ride home.

As soon as she got in the car and got settled Harry head fell on her shoulder, she fought really hard to stop the smile from forming on her lips, “See, he’ll start drooling soon, say goodbye to your shirt!” Maggie says from the front seat, Macy feels an urge to kick the back of her seat but stops herself. She’ll never admit it to anyone but she doesn’t mind if Harry drools over her shoulder. She enjoys the weight of his head on her shoulder, the slight tickling from his hair against the skin of her neck, the way his breath is warm against the skin exposed from the opening of her shirt.

The ride home is too fast and too slow at the same time, Mel parks the car in the driveway, Maggie opens the door of the car and almost bolts outside, Mel turns around “You can wake him up?” she asks, Macy looks up from Harry to Mel, “Sure, leave me the keys.” Mel smiles and passes her the keys before following Maggie out of the car and in the house.

Macy waits until the front door is closed before she turns her attention back to Harry; she wraps her left arm around his waist, her right hand reaching up for his face, “Harry.” She says, her voice soft, she doesn’t really want to startle him after all.

He groans softly and buries his face deeper on her shoulders, “Come on Harry, we’re home.” She says her hand stroking his cheek, he opens his eyes and looks up at her, she saw all the colors swirling in them, “Home?” he looks towards the house, the lights from the living room shinning through the curtains. “I hate pixies” he mutters under his breath.

Macy helps him out of the car before she locked it, they walked to the house, “Wanna eat something?” she asks him when she closed and locked the door behind her. Harry shakes his head no, his eyes already closing; it was so new to her to see him like that. “Bed?” she asks him, his eyes opening for a moment, “Yes”. She helps him up the stairs, contemplating whether to stop at her bedroom or continue up to the attic. His hand on her waist, his head on her shoulder, she knows she won’t be able to sleep alone, not while he’s in the house, last night when he spend it to Noah’s bedside in the hospital was bad enough. It makes her smile but it also scares her a lot.

She wonders what is it this thing between them, was she in love with him, yes she was but why did it feel like being “in love” was not enough? She shakes her head, she has all the time in the world to figure out what exactly she was or wasn't feeling. She guides him to her bedroom and helps him into bed. He gives her a sleepy smile, his hand still holding hers until he falls asleep and his grip flatters.

She goes and changes into her pajamas quickly and returns to the bedroom, she slides under the covers and gets comfortable against his chest, her head on his shoulder, her hand over his heart, his hand wraps around her shoulders tightly his other hand reaching over to get a hold of her waist.

As Macy closes her eyes she thinks how this is the more at home she’s felt in some time.

�

Maggie's words are swirling in her mind, “Love is always scary” was it love? What she had with Harry, was it truly love? Could it be something like that so soon? Harry finds her sitting at the stairs, she was thinking of everything, her head filled with worries and thoughts she can’t get a hold of.

“Macy?” he says her name, sitting down at the step by her side, his hand covering her hands resting on her knees.

“Hey” she says leaning her head on his shoulder. “Did something happened?” he asks, his voice full with concern, she looks up and smiled, “No” she says, he looks at her still concerned, his look warms her heart, she reaches over and cups his face “I love how caring you are” she whispers, Harry gasps but doesn’t say anything, she can see the shocked look on his face, he opens his mouth but no voice comes out.

Macy leans closer to kiss him, his lips warm against hers. She feels an urge to get closer to him, as if just sitting next to him wasn’t enough anymore, her free hand clasps the lapels of his jacket but it doesn’t seem to bring him close enough so she takes her hand from his cheek and tries to pull him closer by the back of his neck.

She hears him gasp as his hand moves down her back resting at her lower back, pushing her closer urgently. She realizes where this is going when his fingers move under her shirt. Warm and insistent against her skin, this was the moment she usually cuts it off and never calls the guy again.

Harry must have sensed her pull back because he pulls away as if struck by electricity “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me” he says, she hates how cold her skin feels now that his fingers were gone, Macy looks around and realizes she was just about ready to jump Harry's bones on the staircase, in full view of everyone coming in the house. “Yeah we shouldn’t” she says, his face falls, he tries to hide it, but she can see the disappointment filling his eyes and realizes that he thinks she regretted it, “I mean, there’s other people in the house, that could have walked in on us.” She says, she hopes he understands what she means, but still holds her breathe till he does.

She sees the smile slowly raising on his lips again, “You’re right, we could move this somewhere more private, if you want?” he asks, she can see the hope just peeking through his words and smiles, “Sure” he stands up and gives her his hand, she takes it and gets up “But maybe not my room,” she says she uses her free hand to grab his tie, “My mom’s bed is not appropriate for what I want tonight.”


	9. Chapter 9

When Macy opens her eyes she expects to see Harry's clean and tidy apartment, maybe Harry sleeping next to her naked, what she doesn’t expect is to see a wrecked bedroom, and she definitely doesn’t expect to see Harry's clavicle looking like he was attacked by some poisonous spider.

“Oh” she says shocked, Harry stirs from next to her; he wakes up with a smile “Morning.” He says, Macy finds herself unable to look at him she sits up clutching the sheet against her chest, “Macy?” she feels the mattress move as he sits up and wraps his arm around her shoulders, “Is there something wrong?” Macy looks at him, “Harry your apartment is wrecked!”

She looks at Harry taking a look around the apartment, surveying the damage, the paintings on the walls have fallen to the floor, one heavy bookcase toppled over his dresser’s drawers wide open, shattered glass from what used to be a vase on another bookcase, and he chuckles. Macy looks at him shocked as the chuckles become laughs, and soon he’s toppled over unable to control his laughter.

“Stop laughing!” she tells him slapping his shoulder lightly, he looks up, tears are running down his face, heaving for breath as he tries to stop “I’m sorry, I can’t”

“Harry's it’s not a joke! Your apartment is ruined!” it takes Harry a couple tries more to control himself, “Macy, I don’t care.” He cups her face and gives her a peck on the lips, “Is that all you were worried about?” he asks, a smirk on his lips, “Yeah, and your clavicle.” Harry looks down puzzled but he can’t really see the area she’s pointing, he looks up puzzled, “You look like you were attacked by a radioactive spider or something, sorry?”

“If you forgive me about your neck?”

�

“Is Macy back?” Maggie asks Mel, a smirk on her lips as she sees her sister throwing a breakfast sandwich together, “Nope”

“I think we won’t have another Harbie problem.” Mel says smirking over her mug of coffee, Maggie winches, “I didn’t need this image Mel! I’ll be at Parker’s see you” Maggie almost bolts out of the kitchen, Mel smiles and turns back to her sandwich, the house was quiet. Almost too quiet for her tasting, she looks at her watch, she really needs to get going or she’ll be late on her date with Jada. Thinking about what she’s about to do she smiles, she didn’t meet Niko’s parents, both of them having died just a few years before they met, and none of the previous relationships were important enough for her to meet their parents, those who parents still talked to them at least.

Taking one last look at herself in the mirror she takes a deep breath and walks out the door. This was a huge step and being on time would be good. She imagines.

�

Macy grips his suit a little tighter before he orbs them back to her bedroom, she is getting used to his method of transport, slowly, but she still feels a little dizzy every time. “Ready?” he asks, his hands wrapping around her waist, Macy closes her eyes and nods, she found out last night, it’s less disorienting if she keeps her eyes closed. They are back in the manor in less than a second, she opens her eyes, they landed perfectly in the middle of her room, “Good morning” Harry says, he leans for a kiss, the touch of his lips make her stomach flutter “I’ll see you for lunch” she tells him when they pull apart. His face breaks into a small smile, “Really?” he whispers, she realizes that his eyes are almost shining from the excitement and she cups his face with one hand, the other gripping his arm tighter, “I’m just being a nice girlfriend Greenwood, don’t get cocky.”

He chuckles and raises his hands in defense “I wouldn’t dare Dr. Vaughn.”

“Good, because I don’t do it for you, I frankly barely like you.” She says, her fingers playing with his striped tie, she feels Harry's arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her closer to him, “Oh I know, trust me.” He says smirking smugly.

Macy feels comfortable right there, but her eyes catch a glimpse of the clock on her dresser, and groans, “What?” Harry asks, he looks at her worried, “I need to get ready, I’m about to be late.” Harry looks at his watch, “Yes, indeed.” He clears his throat, his hands awkwardly by his side, “See you at work.” He says, he gives her one last awkward smile and orbs out. Macy stares at the spot he disappeared for another moment and walks to her wardrobe to get dressed.

She got to work just a little over minute late, she walks by Galvin’s work station which was empty, she’s confused but doesn’t say anything, her relationship with Galvin only got worse since she broke it off with him, so much so that she prefers to avoid him more often than not. She had hoped they could be civil at the very least if not friends, and be able to keep their personal issues out of the work place but it seems like they can’t. But he not being there was surprising; he usually made an effort to be at work on time, he would come in just on time and leave not a minute too late. She shakes her head and walks to Dr. Julia’s office, she knocks on the glass door, the older woman raises her head, the frown on her face disappears and a large smile forms, on her lips as she signs her to walk in.

“Good morning Dr. Julia.” Julia smiles, “Good morning, do you have any names for Galvin’s position?” Macy blinks, “Galvin’s position?” she asks, why would Dr. Julia need names for Galvin’s job?

“He resigned he told me he had informed you.” She says looking worried at her. “He did not” Macy feels hurt, not so much because he left but because he thought it would be ok to leave without telling her, she realizes that’s his last act of revenge, it hurts her, she used to think of him as a friend and now even when he would be leaving her life he wanted to have one up on her.

“Not to worry” Dr. Julia says shaking her head, “I imagine having to contain a pixie was a little time consuming, Parker took some time to sleep off the whimsy.” She smiles sweetly and Macy shakes her head, the smile returning to her lips slowly “Yeah it was.” She smiles.

“How’s you Whitelighter?” she says, her voice lower, Macy thinks back to Harry sleeping off the whimsy and smiles “He’s fine, he had to sleep off the whimsy.”

Dr. Julia smiles widely, “I know that smile.” She says Macy looks at her surprised, “I’m sorry I don’t understand?” Dr. Julia smiles “That smile on your face, I know it well. You love that Whitelighter of yours, don’t you?”

�

“Penny for your thought?” Macy looks up from her cold sandwich to Harry's smiling face, his smile made her smile as well, she felt warm, comfortable, at home with him he stayed silent and waited for her to respond.

“Galvin quit his job, and he told me nothing. I learned about it when Dr. Julia asked me if I had the replacement names ready.” She feels stupid telling him, it didn’t seem like something worth bothering him after all but he looked so concerned ad his smile was so familiar and comforting that she found herself just pouring everything out. His smile fell for a moment, and she was ready to hit herself, how could she talk about Galvin right now, complaining about your ex the day after you had sex for the first time with your boyfriend has to be on the top ten of stupid things to do. “I’m sorry I don’t want to-“

“Don’t apologize” he cuts her off “You have nothing to apologize for, I asked you what was wrong.” He says the smile forming back on his lips. “So, what will you do now?” he asks turning his attention to his sandwich.

“I don’t know, Dr. Julia understood but I’ll still have to come up with some names tomorrow.” She says thinking back on the fresh stacks of CVs on her desk. “And about Galvin?” he asks not looking up from his food, she can almost hear a small sliver of a hint of jealousy and she smiles. “I don’t know.” She admits “He was my friend but.” She stops, she doesn’t know how to say what she's feeling, Galvin was her friend, and for some time she actually liked him and enjoyed his company but somewhere down the road they lost it. She tries to think some of their happier, better times but she can only find the ones she doesn’t want to remember. She remembers him freezing her out, he remembers him flaunting his new girlfriend in her face just days after she kissed him.

She looks at Harry, he’s sitting looking at her, patiently, silently, waiting for her to be ready to tell him what she wants to say. His look of almost concern makes her smile, “He stopped acting like my friend a long time ago. And quite frankly, I don’t know if he ever was.”

“What do you mean?” he asks looking puzzled, Macy smiles “Looking back, I can see him working an angle, he wasn’t trying to be my friend, he was trying to,”

“Get a date.”

“Yes.”

�

Harry walks her back to the lab, he gives her a small kiss on her forehead and tells her to call him if she needs anything. She almost wishes for some demon related disaster just so she can see him again. But nothing demon related happened, and she walks to her car almost disappointed, she notices that his car is not at its spot and smiles, he’s probably already home by now.

She drives as fast as the speed limit allows her, just anxious to get home. She parks her car ad looks around at the driveway and the road in front of the house but Harry's SUV is nowhere to be seen. She’s puzzled, where is his car? She walks in the house, the lights are off, she walks up to her bedroom, half expecting to see Harry waiting for her there, but her bedroom is dark and her bed perfectly made as it was this morning.

She leaves her briefcase and walks to the attic, she knows for a fact that Mel would be at the Haunt for at least another thirty minutes and Maggie had a date with Parker, she was hoping she would have some time alone with Harry till they come back. She found herself missing him more and more, she’s not sure she likes it all the time, sometimes she finds herself wondering how life was when her life wasn’t so interconnected with his but she doesn’t find herself able to figure it out.

She opens the door to the attic, but the room is empty and her smile falls instantly, “Ha-“ she stops, shaking her head she turns around and leaves the room. Her breathing got a little faster, why wasn’t he here, his things weren’t in the attic and he wasn’t there either. She thinks back to what happened in the last day. What could she have done so wrong for him to not be there.

She wonders could the sex have been so horrible on his side to just pull a disappearance act? And if it was then why did it feel so good for her? And why didn’t he say anything in the morning? He seemed happy and content this morning. Her mind goes back to the conversation they had in his office earlier, could it be it? Could she have pushed him away by talking about Galvin? She wants to cry and scream, how could she be so stupid, so ignorant to just think he was ok with her talking about her ex. She wonders what could she do, what could she tell him to make it better, she debated the whole way down to the kitchen whether to call him or not.

And in the end she calls his name without even realizing the sound left her lips. It didn’t take him long to come, longer than usually but he came. He looked tired, annoyed, frustrated, a dark glint in his eyes she never had seen before, he looked almost beat down, “Harry?” he was looking mindlessly to the door, the sound of his name seems to make him snap out of it, he turns around following the sound of her voice. “Macy.” he says, his face breaks into a smile and it makes her feel much more at ease. She smiles it makes her feel better that he’s here “I looked, I was worried.” She says, he smiles a little wider and walks to her, his arms wrapping around her waist, she smiles and wraps her arms around his waist, she slides her hands under his jacket and grabs onto his shirt tightly. “I didn’t see your car on the parking lot.” She says he leans down and buries his face on her shoulder, he said something but his voice is muffled by her skin, she doesn’t ask him what he said, she lets him rest there for a moment or two just enjoying the weight of his head on her shoulder, the scent from his shampoo and aftershave filling her nostrils, he doesn’t seem very willing to move but she starts getting worried.

“So what got you down?”

�

“Oh, wow. Huh. Procrasti-baking?” Macy turns around, Maggie is standing there, nervously looking around.

“I’m waiting for Harry to be back, help yourself.” She turns back to the oven trying to keep herself busy, she takes a quick look at her watch, Harry should be done with his meeting with Charity by now but he wasn’t back yet. “Where is he?” Maggie asks. Macy takes a deep breath, “He has a meeting with Charity.” She says trying not to look up from the cupcakes she was decorating, “Wow, that’s a terrible timing.” She says with a smirk on her voice, she turns ad smirks back to her sister, “Yeah, it is.” She turns back to her cupcakes adding some extra decorations on the cupcakes in front of her.

“Actually, I was hoping to pick your brain about something.” Maggie says, Macy turns around, she’s a little surprised but it’s a pleasant surprise, “Oh, yeah? Try me.” She says wiping her hands.

“Something, uh, sex-related.” Maggie says, Macy chuckles, “Now that I am officially in the club.” She jokes, Maggie winches “Over share.” She mutters, Macy bites her lip, her sister in all her openness about sex and love still winched and blushed more than she does when she’s actually talking about it. “So, earlier today, right before Parker and I were about to, you know, do our thing, um, there was this energy blast... down there.”

“Maggie, we're adults. You can say "orgasm" in front of me.” She says letting the Yorkshire putting down, she remembers Harry telling her that it is one of his favorite deserts and while she finds it absolutely disgusting she knows his whole face will light up when he comes back home, and after spending hours with Charity he probably would need it. “No. No, no, no. No, no, this was, like, a light, and a loud bang, and Parker flew across the room.” she turns around her eyes open widely, “Oh. That-that's not where I thought the story was going.”

“I always wanted the sex to be explosive, just not... Literally.” Macy smirks, she thinks back to the mess she and Harry created last night and feels the uncontrollable need to brag, she turns to her sister “If it makes you feel any better, I lost control of my power in the moment too, the lights went out.” Maggie looks shocked, “Damn, girl.”

“Yeah, we wrecked Harry's condo.” Maggie groans, “Macy!” Macy winches, sometimes she’s so excited to have sisters to share with that she forgets the role the boyfriend in her life had in their lives as well. “You know, it kind of sounds like the force field you manifested out of emotion when we were fighting Alistair.” She says quickly changing the subject to spare Maggie and herself the embarrassment.

“Yeah, but... why would my powers do that? I want to be with Parker.” Macy bites her lip, “Well, you did say you were terrified that he might still hurt you.” She says reminding Maggie of their conversation last night.

“Oh, my God. Yes. Duh. My fear set off the sex bomb. Thank you. Oh, thank you.” Maggie giggles and gives her a hug, “Yeah, Oh.” She’s smiling using her hands to stop herself from slamming in the oven with full force.

“You are the best. Ah. Okay, so, maybe if I'm just honest with him and with myself, I can keep it under control. You smell something... burning?” Macy smells the air, there's a scent of burning flesh filling the air, Maggie turns around and looks at her, her eyes widening, “Oh, my God, Macy, your hand!” she says pulling her hand from the top of the stove, the skin is red and blistered, she knows she should be feeling pain but she can’t feel anything other than a strong case of nausea seeing the burned skin.

“Oh, my God.” Macy looks up to see Mel standing at the opening with the hallway, “Harry!” He orbs to the kitchen immediately and Macy almost instantly at ease, he looks around worried, his eyes fall on her and she can see his eyes looking at her burned hand with an expression of pain on his eyes. He walks quickly to her and takes her hand in his. They are slightly colder, his cool skin feels so nice on her hands. He gently leads her to the table, his other hand on her waist, “I didn't feel anything.” She tells him, he looks at her, he tries to cover his worry but she can see it in his eyes as he tries to smile to her but fails “Come here.” He says.

“Sit down.” He pulls the chair out for her and she sits down, and he pulls her hand softly closer to him. “The skin seems to be thickening, and the nerves fraying, dulling your pain receptors.” He says, Macy looks at him worried, she doesn’t really understand why this is happening, what he is telling her doesn’t really make sense, why would be happening.

“Why would that happen?”

“Well, these are common characteristics...” he stops, she can see him looking away from her, avoiding to look her in the eyes, she knows what that means, she knows what characteristics these are, she spend a lot of time with him reading books, have him rant out with her about one thing or another, “Of a demon. Which means whatever demon essence is in you could be presenting itself.”

“Why now, after 29 years?”

“Well, there are some things beyond my scope of knowledge.” He gives her a small look before he turns his attention to her hand, she feels the light touch her skin, it’s a little warm on her burned skin “Oh. Thanks.” She says, he smiles at her reassuringly, but it’s short lived, his face falls “Macy, you really ought to seek counsel from Charity.” She feared this would come sooner or later, she wanted to ask him so many things, he looks incredibly worried, but before she has a chance to talk she can hear the noise coming from her sisters, he turns around and tells something to Mel, his hand is still on hers, she hears the noise around her but there’s so many thoughts running wild in her mind, she is scared, she’s been trying for some time with Dr. Julia but they are getting nowhere, and while she was willing to wait before that no signs of her inner demon was coming out she just burned her hand severely and felt nothing,

“Mel, even if this Smokescreen does exist, it's hardly a reason to risk Macy's humanity.” Harry's enraged voice snaps her back, the arguing started getting out of control around her, she pulls her hand out of his grip like she got hit by electricity.

“Can we all just... please stop?” she says everyone stopped arguing, Harry tries to reach over to take her hand but she pulls back “I can't talk about this right now.” She gets up from the table walks to the counter takes the devil’s cake and walks out of the kitchen, she can hear her sisters calling her name but doesn’t look back.


	10. Chapter 10

When he opens the door to the attic he’s the last person she expects to see, “Oh, hey.” She says. He smirks and raises his eyebrow, “Well, I do love a warm welcome.” He says,

The smirk on his lips puts her a little at ease, he has this thing about him, being able to make her mind relax with a smile. “Sorry, I-I... I thought it maybe was Mel.” She says, he smiles sweetly and walks to her, taking a seat on the armchair next to her, “Well, I hope you're not up here hiding from her.”

“No. The Wi-Fi's just better up here.” She jokes, he doesn’t say anything but the look on his eyes says it all, she closes her eyes and feels his hand on hers, “I am worried about her, though. If this whole Elder drama creates a rift, Mel and I might end up right back where we started when I first moved in.” she tells him, she’s glad that she and Mel have grown closer, they may not be as close as she is with Maggie or as close as Mel is with Maggie but they are close enough. She hopes he understands his worry, she’s just started feeling at home and she doesn’t want to feel like she used to before, especially now, she realizes that this is just the story of her life, life always throws her a curve ball every time she feels like things are going her way. “I understand.” He says, his hand squeezes hers, tightly, reassuringly. “I really do, but I’d be remiss my duties as your Whitelighter if I didn’t inform you there’s far more at stake here than domestic bliss.” He leans a bit closer, both his hands take hers and hold them gently, his thumb is running circles on her wrist, is slow, comforting and all too familiar.

“Macy, without the Charmed Ones, the world will succumb to the forces of evil. And without three fully functioning witches, there are no Charmed Ones. So, please, for destiny's sake, call Charity.” He leaves a gold compass on the coffee table between them Macy pulls her hands away from him “Harry please”

“I don’t like this any more than you do, but I don’t know what else to do Macy. I’m sorry, I’m scared this is way beyond my scope of knowledge and it scares me.” She looks at him shocked, she knew that he was worried about her having demon blood, but she would never think he was actually scared, was it scared for her or of her? “I can’t help you, and that’s all I want to do. I’m meant to have the answers for you but I have nothing.”

“I'm sorry, I... I just can't right now.” She sees his eyes, there’s something deep and untamable in them right now, she can’t look at him, the raw emotions in his eye scare her a little. “Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to forget about my grim demonic reality and binge-watch some mindless TV.”

He looks at her surprised and squeezes between her and the armrest, “Ooh, what are you watching?” he asks a childish, bright smile on his lips.

“Oh, I...” she smiles, “It's called Heaven's Vice.” She says, he shrugs “Never heard of it.” He says, Macy chuckles she leans closer to him their shoulder bumping. “That's probably because you weren't a pre-teen geek in the late '90s” Harry hums and turns to look at her, She looks at his neck, his Adam’s apple moving up and down, she finds herself noticing some details about his face, his body, his reactions, more than she did before, she bites her lower lip, and tries to focus back on the show “But... it's about two brothers, named Gideon and Levi, who also happen to be angels. They're sent down from Heaven to kill demons and save mankind from the Devil.” She says excited.

“Sounds utterly preposterous.” He says rolling his eyes, he leans forward and presses play, she knows exactly what is going on in this episode, just like every other episode of the show, she wants to see his reaction to the show, he is the first person she has shared her obsession with Heaven’s Vice, she realizes that there’s so many things she shared with him that she hasn’t before. When he leans forward and pauses the episode again she’s a little surprised, “What?” she asks him, “Well, the writing's a bit lazy. Don't you think?” he asks, she frowns, “That's their catchphrase.” She says defensively, he smiles sweetly and leans to give her a small kiss on the cheek, “Very well” he whispers against her cheek.

“Just don't stay up too late bingeing this nonsense.” He says she pushes him lightly as he gets up from the couch, “I’ll be in bed in an hour.” She says smiling, he stops for a moment, almost as if he stumbled, “I’ll be I the sunroom” he says, “I’ll come call you when I’m done.”

�

Her whole body is in pain, but she feels like she’s walking on air, taking a trip into her favorite show was exhausting, fun and everything in between. The four of them walked down to the kitchen where Harry made them all a quick dinner. Maggie and Mel went to bed, Macy promising them they will see the finale of Heaven’s Vice, as she and Harry updated it.

Soon it was just her and Harry in the kitchen, he was absent minded cleaning the table, picking up the plates and putting them in the sink, she leans back and watches him as he slowly and carefully washes the dishes, his shirt’s sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his jacket carefully folded and draped on the back of the chair he was using before.

“Ready for bed?” she asks him when he wipes his hands in the towel, “Sure.” He says. He seems to be a little surprised by her question, but he covers it with a smile and reaches over for her extended hand. They walk upstairs to her bedroom hand in hand, she starts getting used to this small routine they created, they get in the room, Harry orbs to his condo for less than ten minutes just enough time for her to change in her pajamas and brush her teeth, before he appears back in her bedroom, changed into his pajamas. Tonight he’s wearing a pair of black cotton ones, they look comfortable and rather warm, he stands by the empty side of the bed a little nervously, like he did the nights before, she smiles and raises the covers for him to slide under. She watches him as he gets comfortable under the thick blanket and waits till he smoothes the covers over him, it’s almost like a thing he does without thinking about it, but she’s studied him the nights they spend together and he always does it.

She gets closer to him, muscle memory kicking in as she sneaks one arm underneath him, palm flat on his back, and the other laying on his chest, she's gotten used to sleeping like that, so much so that she doesn’t even mind the fact that his weight turns her right arm numb in half an hour. His arms wrap around her a little tighter than before, he’s clutching her shirt in a desperate manner almost as if he thinks she’ll slip away if he doesn’t. his other hand grips her arm tightly as well, she looks up, his eyes are closed hard, she can see some small expression lines around them.

“Harry?” her voice startles him, he wasn’t asleep, but he was lost deep in his thoughts, the grip on her arm and shirt loosens, he slowly opens his eyes, he looks a little frightened although he manages to conceal it fast, “Harry what’s going on?” she asks him sitting up a little, she pulls her right arm from underneath him, her left hand still on his chest, “Such a simple question, such a complicated answer.” He mutters.

“Try me.”

He smiles, “What happened today, before our trip to TV land,” his voice wanders, Macy felt her blood run a little colder when she heard him talk about it, her palm tingling although no burns were left there. “I don’t have the answers Macy, and I don’t know what to do.” Macy looks away from his eyes for a moment, she hates how worried he looks, she hates how right he is.

“I know that.” She says “I know it, but both Mel and Maggie have valid points. Sure Charity might know more, but she hasn’t been exactly forthcoming with, a lot of stuff. I just don’t know what to do Harry.” She hopes he will have an answer for her, a simple ‘do this or do that’ answer but he stays silent.

Macy looks up, “I told you I don’t have the answers this time Macy, I’m afraid this is something you have to figure out on your own, but I will support you no matter what you chose.”

�

 _“They wanted to let you rot in Tartarus”_ Mel's words ring in his mind, loud, insistent. He knew that the Elders didn’t really care much for whitelighters this wasn’t something new, simple soldiers, pawns in a chess match, but this time it bothered him. he wanted to believe that they had tried, he wanted to believe that eventually they would have found a way to get him out of there, sure he wasn't a priority but they couldn’t have just forgotten about him, let him rot in hell. Maybe, maybe some would but Charity, or Elder Bari, or Elder Javier they liked him, they were more than just Elders, they used to be almost friends, they surely treated him over the years as more than just a Whitelighter. Charity told him she loved him, many times, and he did as well, at some point in his life he was madly in love with her, although he came to realize it wasn't as madly as he thought it was after all, he still was in love with her, elder Javier, she and Marisol were friends since college much longer than Marisol and Charity were, she insisted he calls her Maria when they were alone, she couldn’t have been ok with him just rotting down there could she?

He starts getting dizzy, his laptop forgotten where he threw it before when Mel interrupted his binge watching, he hears a door closing and looks around but no one was there, leaning back he sees Maggie's car disappearing around the corner. He shakes his head and stands up, he needs to talk to Macy she wouldn’t lie to him, she was level headed, she as much admitted to him last night that she felt right in the middle about this situation, so maybe she could help him.

He walks up the stairs fast skipping a couple steps in his hurry and knocks on her door “Harry?”she opens the door, her hair up in a messy bun, a fluffy robe around her, “What is it?” she asks, he sees her eyes widen, he must look bad then.

“I needed to ask you something.” He says, Macy bites her lip, “I need to tell you something first.” She says, he blinks a couple times, “What is it?” he asks, instantly his mind travelling away from the Elders and their shenanigans.

“No, no, go first you looked distraught.” She says, Harry shakes his head, her hand had gripped his at some point and he already felt better, “It’s not a big deal, tell me.” He says forcing a smile o his slightly stiff feeling face.

Macy smiles nervously, “I’ve decided to ask Charity for help, you were right we don’t have the answers, we tried but we got nowhere, maybe they will know more.” Harry opens his mouth, something inside him tells him to stop her, to get her to change her mind but he reminds to himself that it was him who pushed her to talk to Charity and the Elders, him who put that damned compass in her palm. He smiles stiffly, hoping she would not see his worry palpable just hiding under the surface.

“So?” she asks, it pains him that it looks almost like she wants his approval, “I told you last night Macy, I will support you no matter what.”

She smiles and leans forward placing a quick kiss on his cheek “Thank you” she whispers against his skin.

“What was it that you wanted to tell me?” she asks, Harry shakes his head, she finally had made a decision for herself, she chose what was better it wasn’t right for him to come in with his inner turmoil and throw her off. She gently starts guides him to the bed and he follows her mindlessly, it almost shocks him how this time he doesn’t wait for her to raise the covers for him to slide in, he kicks off his shoes and joins her under the covers.

“So this,” she says pointing at the space between them, the reality of what she was about to say daunts him, but he braces himself for the heartbreak that it’s without a doubt about to come, “We probably should hide it from Charity right?” he looks at her, his breath caught in his throat.

“Yes” he manages with difficulty, “Relationships like this are highly frowned upon.” He whispers. Macy's face falls a little, but she leas closer to him, her breath is warm on his neck and for a moment he feels as if even the Elders can’t touch them.

“So we should pretend like nothing is happening between us while Charity is around.” The word pretend sounds weird to his ears, he was convinced she was about to break up with him, but she didn’t want to do it? She said pretend like nothing is happening, meaning that this, whatever this was, wasn't going to be over. He feels her eyes on him and he looks at her, “You are right.”

“What’s going on with you? You seem off.” She says her hand on his chest is a welcomed distraction. He uses his to cover it, “I’m afraid I have grown quite attached to not sleeping alone as well.” He says, he’s not lying, not entirely, he has grown used to sleeping with her by his side, he liked the warmth of her body, the way her hair smells as it tickles his neck, the way her hand clutches his shirt a little tighter when she’s having a good dream, the small smirk on her lips as she buries her face on his shoulder.

Macy smiles, the worry leaving her eyes when he looks at them again, “Let’s hope they find the answers fast then.”

�

Charity portaled herself out of the temple, Macy waited until the purple sparkles disappeared before she turned to Harry, her eyes narrowing as she throws him a look, “Ladies” Harry says offering them his arms, Macy and Maggie grab a hold, Macy grips him a little tighter than it was really necessary, nails digging in the fine material. She doesn’t understand why she feels such an irrational surge of jealously and while Charity was there she was trying to suppress it. They land in the middle of the living room, “I’m gonna check if Mel is back.” Maggie says, she pats Harry's arms and smiles at Macy before she leaves.

“Macy?” Harry says, she doesn’t look at him for a moment but she releases the chock hold she has on his arm, she sees him rubbing the area a little but he doesn’t say anything almost waiting for her to say, she looks at him “I guess you have to go back to your condo right?” she sees his face falling.

“Have time for a cup of tea?”

�

He brings her some of the best news in her life and all she wants is to kiss him till their both out of breath, but she stops herself. They don’t have much time to celebrate, soon enough Harry has to call Charity and they find themselves using a portal to get to the campus. Macy is almost annoyed with the blonde woman while orbing was one of the few moments she could unapologetically touch Harry lately, one of the few moments she could press her body as close to his as she wanted and no one could say anything, but she had to come around with her fancy portals and ruin it.

They find Daphne, screams interrupt their talk, Macy finds herself halfway out the door, they turn the corner, the screams louder now that they are out of the bathroom, Harry runs towards them, she notices how Charity is behind him her hand on the sleeve of his jacket, “Macy, lift the shield!” he yells, Macy looks at him, there’s terror in his eyes, he looks towards the room where the party was, where screaming still could be heard, “Macy now!” she feels the shield being lifted against her will a green glow filling the corridor around them, Maggie has her eyes closed shut tightly, she can see some tears showing in her lids as her hands hold the shield up.

The glow reduces and Macy lowers the shield everyone in the corridor but them is frozen, stone like, lifeless statues where used to be people.

“Harry!” Mel says she looks towards the corner, there’s two figures there, Macy walks there, Harry is closer to the wall, one hand on touching the wall his body leaning towards them, his other hand extended the other way, Charity still holding on to his cuff.

They hear more screaming coming from the room right next to them, “She’s hunting them down, one by one.” Macy says taking her eyes from Harry's stone face, Maggie is standing by Parker, Mel looks towards the opening of the corridor. “We have to turn them back!” Mel says. Macy takes one last look at Harry, the sword in Charity’s hand is still metal, “We will” she says removing it from the stoned woman’s grip. “We will” she didn’t want to think having to kill Medusa, she still feels uncomfortable doing it after all, but if she has to chose between letting Medusa go and saving Harry the choice was nonexistent for her. Harry, Parker, these people around her, and yes even Charity came before Medusa, even if she could see herself in her. She cups Harry's cheek, he probably can’t feel it, but she hopes he knows, somehow that she’s got this under control, she turns to her sisters, Mel's mouth twitching into a small smile, barely there for less than a millisecond, “Let’s find her.”

�

Harry stumbles forward, his hand slips on the wooden wall, he hits his forehead against the wall, “Where’s the sword?” he hears Charity say from next to him, her grip on his cuff loosening before she completely lets go of him, he wants to breath in relief but he stops himself, rubbing the spot where he hit against the wood “Hey you’re ok man?” Parker says when he sees him, Harry smiles at the young man, Parker’s words seem to have alerted Charity to something being wrong with him, she grabs hold of his wrist this time, her grip tight, insistent “I am quite alright, Parker. Just lost my balance for a moment there.” He straightens up and turns around, Macy is running towards them, she seems to ignore Charity standing there when she wraps her arms around him “You’re alright.” She says the clank of the sword hitting the floor is loud but he wraps an arm around her, he feels Charity’s grip on his wrist flatter, Mel and Maggie finding the opportunity to join in on the hug. He hides his face between Macy and Mel and smiles, he feels at home with these women around him, these three amazing women who opened their arms quite literally and added him to their small family.

A fake cough coming from Charity interrupts the spell, and the three sisters slowly disentangle from their group hug, “I see you’re alright Charity” Macy says, he can hear the venom in her voice and he feels a small tingle in the base of his spine, especially at the way Charity seems to be straightening her back, he knows full well that Macy was not worried about the other woman. “Indeed.” She Charity says, her lips turning into a thin line, “How about I portal you home, leave Harry here to wipe the memories of the event from these mortals.” Harry sees Macy look at him for a second before covering it by looking around the corridor, “Yes that would be good.” She says, “I’ll see you guys at home.” She says to Maggie, Mel and him, she gives a squeeze to Parker’s arm and follows Charity to the other side of the corridor and into a nice secluded room.


	11. Chapter 11

Maggie watches her older sister leaving the coffee shop and turns back to Mel, “You think she’ll keep it from Harry?” she says. Mel shakes her head “I don’t know, Macy's acting weird.” Maggie nods, everyone in this damned house was acting weird, “It’s not just Macy, Why is Charity so touchy feeling with Harry?” she says Mel leaves her cup down, “You noticed it too?”  
“Yeah but I am surprised it seems not to bother Macy so much anymore, the other day at the vortex she seemed ready to tear Charity’s eyes out, when we orbed back upstairs she literally had her nails digging into Harry's suit arm.” She stops, “She’s usually not that cool, remember Chloe as well?” Mel nods, their sister, although trying to be cool, was quite territorial about Harry with other women, she and Mel might be the only two women she doesn’t feel upset with touching Harry in any shape way or form.   
“You are feeling something is off too right?” Maggie nods.  
  
Macy couldn’t shake the feeling she was forgetting something the whole day, while at work, at home it was horrible nagging, she went over her calendar just to make sure she wasn’t forgetting someone’s birthday or something else important but her day was clear. She walks out of her closet, fixing her pajamas when she sees Harry standing in the middle of the room, clad in his pajamas, tonight it’s a set of dark blue, silky ones.   
“Harry?” she says halfway not believing he’s standing there, he turns around and gives her a smile, “Hey.” she smiles and for a moment she doesn’t think about what she might have forgotten, wrapping her arms around his waist feels good, feels normal, “I thought you said we shouldn’t, you know sneak around while Charity is here.” She says her voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt, she feels him smiling against her neck, “I did,” he says pulling back “but you needed me. I wanted to come to you earlier but Charity seems to-“  
“Stalk me?” she says, a smirk on her lips, Harry bites his lip trying to cover up the smirk on his lips, Charity did seem to keep an annoyingly close eye on her since she was summoned about her dark side. ”You could say that.”  
“Do you have to leave?” she asks, fully expecting him to tell her that he does, “No,” she looks up shocked, “I’ll stay here if you want me.” Macy bites her lip, she didn’t want to admit it but she really, really needed him to stay even if it was for a few hours. “I do. I really, really do.” Harry leads them to the bed, this time his turn to make sure she gets under the covers. Macy finds herself instantly curling against him, he wraps his arms around her, the sea of thoughts swirling in her head, there’s so many things she wants to tell him, so many things she knows he will help her make sense but she doesn’t know where to start, “I’m here now.” He whispers as his hands tighten their hold over her, she looks down at the three circular bruises on her arm, of all the weird things that have happened to her in the last day this is probably the one thing troubling her the most, “Harry I don’t, I don’t remember where I got these bruises.” She says not looking up, he runs his hand over the bruised skin, “Want me to heal them?” he asks, his hand ready. She takes his hand in hers, “No,” she says smiling, “not until I figure it out alright.” She really wants to figure out what might have caused this and hopefully keeping the bruises, especially since they don’t hurt, would help.  
“Alright. Is there anything you need me to do, anything?” he asks, she looks up, he looks worried but at the same time there’s something in his eyes, something she looks away trying to ignore it, trying to forget the raw emotions it raises in her.   
“Hold me?” she asks him, her voice is small, flattering a little, he kisses her forehead “I really missed you.” She says, her hands gripping the silk of his pajamas tightly, wrinkling the material.   
“I missed you too” he says, she looks up, “Good.” She says a little too smugly, her sisters claim she’s too territorial of Harry and she sees how this might be true, especially as the only thing in her mind right now is Charity’s behavior earlier. “By the way what is wrong with Charity?” she asks standing up a little, Harry seemed taken aback by her question, even jumping a little back, ”What do you mean?” he asks shocked.   
She gives him a look that says not to treat her like she’s dump, “She keeps touching you, haven’t you noticed, she keeps an extremely close eye on both of us.” She stops, something clicking in her mind as she thinks about it, “Do you think she… you know.” She says pointing at the space between them, the thought of Charity knowing was a terrifying one, what would happen if the Elders knew? Could they take Harry away? What if they told them to break up or he will be gone from their lives forever? She would have to let him go but the question is could she really, could she go on with her life, have him around, have him so close and yet not being able to touch him, to hug him, to kiss him? She knows that he’s too important to her sisters; she’d have to find a way to push through, just like she’s done in the past, she always figured a way to push through, but what if she couldn’t this time? All sort of scenarios swirl in her mind each worse than the last until Harry's voice brings her back to reality.  
“I am not sure, she does keep a close eye, she’s been trying to,”   
“To?” she sees Harry being uncomfortable with what he’s about to tell her and she wonders just how bad could it be. ”I think she’s been trying to rekindle our relationship, since I came back from Tartarus. Almost like she expect it to happen.”  
“Do you want that?” she asks him, suddenly feeling very small very insecure, she grips him tighter against her, “No,” he says quickly, sternly, she looks up with a smile and Harry uses the opportunity to cup her cheek, “I’m with you. And even if I wasn’t there was a reason why Charity and I didn’t work back then, and nothing has changed enough for it to work now.”   
“What happened?” she asks him, Harry smiles a little but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes, it stays stiffly on his lips, unmoving, emotionless, “I got distracted, too caught up in her, in our relationship, I forgot what my job was, it was to protect her sister, Fiona was my job and I got too caught up in Charity, in the dream she was offering me, one she was never going to be able to make reality.”  
“What dream?” she asks, she sees Harry's face twitch a little, a pained look flashing through his eyes, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to intrude-“ she says quickly, Harry chuckles. “You’re not,” he says raising her hand and kissing it softly, “we used to dream of binding our powers and running away, just the two of us, forever, but Charity always wanted more, more power, more responsibilities, while all I wanted was a family.” She looks away, family, all he wanted was a family, she realizes that’s all she wanted as well, and in a sense they both got what they wanted, Mel and Maggie had become family not just for her but for him too. But at the same time this thing between them started growing out of control, and she imagines the same had happened with Charity as well, he admitted to forgetting what the goal was once, would he do it again? Or even worse would he put her above Mel and Maggie? Was it worth it?   
“Harry, I need you to promise me one thing.” She says looking at him, he’s confused but he tells her “Anything.” With the most honest tone she has heard, if she had time to analyze it, it would scare her, because that moment when he said anything he meant pretty much anything.  
“If there’s ever a choice between staying with me and saving my sisters, I want you to save them. I need you to promise me that you won’t put anyone, not even me above them.” She looks at him trying to protest, she puts her hand on his chest “Please.”   
Harry looks at her in near desperation; he knows what she means, what she’s asking him and he doesn’t even want to think about it, “Don’t make me choose, please.”  
“I need you to promise me that.” She says again, her fingers curling on the material of his shirt, “Promise me you’ll protect them, they are your family too.” Harry closes his eyes, “Alright.” He says softly, he opens his eyes, she looks into his eyes and can see the turmoil he’s feeling it “I hope I never have to make such choice.” He says his hand on her back tightening its hold on her, his other hand cupping her cheek, “I hope so too.” She says leaning into his touch. “And I need you to promise me a thing in return as well.” He says.  
“Alright.” Macy says, “You will never shut me out, don’t lie to me.” He says, Macy breathes out and smiles a little, “I won’t, I promise, you are always my first call.” She says leaning forward to kiss him, she missed the feel of his lips on hers, she pulls back and licks her lips, the taste of tea he had earlier lingered on his lips, transferred on hers, there’s always some slight taste of lemon especially that she can’t get enough of. She want to tell him about Fiona, but she stops herself, he doesn’t ask her about it, and something in the back of her head tells her that it’s not her information to offer.   
“Thank you.” He says, his hand has settled a bit lower at her waist, he looks at the clock on her bedside table and groans a little, “It’s getting late you should rest.” he says smiling down at her, Macy sits up, her hand pressing him back against the headboard, her other hand on his thigh, “I don’t want to rest right now.”  
  
Harry was waiting for his coffee to finish, he had decided against tea given that the only decent tea shop was about fifteen minutes away from campus. He has three people in front of him waiting for their drinks when he feels a sharp pain on his head, he gets some black spots in his vision followed by another sharp pain on his chest this time, he wonders what’s going on with him. Harry turns around and leaves the coffee shop; something tells him that he needs to get back home soon. He finds a small alley in the back of the shop, and looks around a couple times trying to make sure that there wasn’t anyone around. When he sees that the way is clear he takes a deep breath and orbs back home. He lands in the attic with a small stumble ad looks around, his eyes fall on Macy lying on the floor, she’s wearing a colorful jacket and what he recognizes as his t-shirt to his terror he sees Charity standing over Macy.   
His unannounced appearance seems to have startled her, “Charity what happened?” he asks kneeling by Macy, “Harry!” she seems to jump back a little, “I… I found Macy passed out, here.” She says crossing her arms over her chest, “What are you doing here?” she asks her tone a little surprised still, even though she tried to hide the shock from her face, “I…” he is taken by surprise by her tone, he tries to think of an excuse as to why he was there other than the fact that he felt this incredible urge and need to be back home. “I forgot some papers in my, well the guest room.” he says cursing himself for the slip of the tongue, as if it wasn’t enough that he was here without a reason, at least an apparent reason for her, now he had to go and nearly call the office turned guest room, his room. “You’re still staying here?” he hears Charity ask, he had turned his attention back to Macy trying to hopefully shake her awake but he got no response, “Occasionally.” He says, Charity seemed interested in digging deeper, he saw her ready to fire away more questions at him, but he stops her before she manages to say anything, “We need to carry her to her room. Call Maggie and Mel too.” He says, his arms already wrapping under Macy's neck and behind her knees, lifting her from the ground as gently as he could.   
He walked to Macy's bedroom carefully, the bed was perfectly made so he laid her carefully on top of the comforter.   
“You should go get them, I’ll stay with Macy.” he turns to his side to see Charity standing by the door, he didn’t want to leave Macy alone, “I think it’s better if I-“   
“You don’t trust me Harry?” she stops him, her question takes him by surprise, he wants to scream no, he wants her to leave, finally, but he doesn’t, his personal feelings for the woman, have changed so rapidly in the last few months, but they have no place in this, she’s here to help Macy, with Macy's agreement, and he has to respect it.  
“Of course I do.” He says, almost through his teeth, hoping that she will not hear it in his voice, her eyes cold as ice focus on him in a way that makes his spine tingle. “Then do as I say.” She says strictly.  
“Of course.”  
  
Harry walks away from Charity, her arms around his waist still feel like burning his skin under his clothes, he was meant to orb to Elder Bari’s office but he decides to drop by Macy's room for a moment, she seemed so upset earlier, so distraught, he wanted to calm her, he wanted to help her, in any way he could.   
Macy was sitting on the side of the bed where Charity had left her, she wanted to call Harry, have him come over and take her to elder Bari, he probably knew where she was, she gasps when she sees him appearing in front of her in the middle of the room.  
“Harry!” she says surprised standing up “What are you doing here?” her hands wrap around his waist under his jacket and he hears a breath of relief leaving his lips, almost against his will. He leans forward his forehead touching hers, “I don’t have a lot of time, I just came to tell you that I am going to find elder Bari, I’ll get the results for you.” He says, Macy smiles and leans to sneak a kiss on his lips.   
“Thank you.” She whispers. She sees him pulling back, licking his lips, it makes her irrational for a moment and she leans closer to him again, “Just call me, alright, if you need anything, anything at all.” He says and for this moment the spell is broken.   
Macy pulls back “Alright.” She says she gives his lapels one last tug, she doesn’t know why, it’s almost like she’s fighting whether or not to let him go, “Go, these test results are driving me crazy.” She says finally deciding to let him.   
“I’ll go, but you rest okay.” He says cupping her cheek.   
“I’ll try.”  
  
Harry feels the same piercing stab of pain, only this time it was more blunt, more painful, he barely manages to cover the yelp of pain it caused, he was in the middle of the street, he can see an elderly woman lean towards him, her hand on his arm “Are you alright?” she asks, Harry wishes she wouldn’t talk right now, he thinks he heard Macy's voice, but the woman’s voice almost distracted him, “I’m fine, just a migraine” he says giving the woman a pained smile, she releases the grip on his arm “You should visit the hospital Professor Greenwood.” He looks at her as she smiles and walks away and realizes that she’s the lady from the o campus restaurant. He catches his breath with difficulty and walks to a small alley he knows will be empty and dark enough for him to disappear without anyone noticing.   
He orbs home, the attic is empty he sees Charity’s summoning compass on the floor but when he goes to get it another sharp white hot blast of pain brings him to his knees.  
He hears shoes on the wood staircase and tries to stand up, but can’t something inside him telling him that he needs to get to Macy now, it finally clicks in his mind, he needs to get to Macy, she is calling him. she must be.   
“Harry! Oh god what happened to you?” he feels small hands on his shoulders and he tries to look up, Maggie was kneeling in front of him, her hands on his shoulders putting pressure, he takes a deep breath, “Macy” he gasps, he wants to tell them, to explain to them but he starts feeling pain even breathing right now.   
“Macy did this?” Maggie asks, her eyes growing wide, he grinds his teeth, “No, Macy.” he says again, with more force this time, Mel gasps and gently slaps her sister’s shoulder, “She’s in trouble!” she exclaims, “Harry, is Macy in trouble?” she asks, Harry nods, he finally managed to drew in some air without feeling like his lungs are on fire but still doesn’t feel like he can stand up.  
“Charity has been lying to us all; she must have taken Macy somewhere no one can find them.” Mel says, Maggie helps him stand up, “Somewhere she told us not to go.” She says, Harry leas back to the couch, it takes less than a second for it to click in his mind, “The Vortex under the house!” he says at the same time with Mel and Maggie, Mel turns to him, ”Harry can you orb us there?” she asks, Harry takes a deep breath, he still feels the same pain on his chest, almost like someone crushing his heart but he manages to stand straight, “Grab hold.” He says, Maggie gripping his left hand, Mel on his right “Are you sure you can orb us?” She asks softly.  
“Yes!”


	12. Chapter 12

Macy tries not to look at Harry, he had a rather angry looking mark on his cheek where Charity’s whip hit him, she wants to get to him,, to touch him make sure he is alright, but she doesn’t he’s already halfway calling the Elders and not a minute later two women walk in their living room, one is a blonde older woman, the other a woman with black short hair, she’s much younger and her face is a little sweeter towards Harry, Macy follows her sisters upstairs, trying to stonewall as much as she could just trying to listen to what the two women had to say to Harry.

Seeing her mother’s death again hit her even harder, but this time she was glad to have her sisters with her, wrapped in a group hug she felt just a little better.

“We should get back downstairs” Mel says, “We don’t have to-“

“We all want to make sure Harry's alright Macy.” Macy smiles and stands up from the couch and follows her sisters down the stairs, she is horrified of what she might find when they do.

She can see Harry sitting with his head in his hands, he looks up when he hears them coming down the stairs, Macy can see the strain in his eyes as he looks all of them, “Fiona is alive.” He says, his voice a bit hoarser than usually, Macy feels like a hand is tightening around her throat, cutting off her airways, she wants to reach out, touch him, something but she just sits frozen her hands in her lap, “How?” she mutters, how what, she didn’t know.

“How do you know?” Mel asks, Harry looks up, she can see his fingers twitching Macy looks down she remembers clearly, it was just yesterday after all when he asked her not to lie to him, when she promised him she wouldn’t and she had already broken her promise, and what a promise she made when it was already going to be broken since she was already keeping things from him. “You knew?” he asks Mel, Macy whishes Maggie didn’t look away, she sees Harry looking from Mel to Maggie to her, “You all knew?” although he covers it well, Macy can hear the undertones of betrayal in his voice “For how long?”

“Since Maggie found the vortex” Mel says, Maggie bites her lip, “Next day” she says.

He turns to her, “Yesterday morning.”

“And you didn’t tell me none of you did.” His eyes fall to the ground, and he leans forward, his elbows on his thighs she can’t stop herself and reaches over, putting a hand on his back, she can feel his muscles stiffen under her palm. “Harry it wasn’t our secret to tell. Fiona wanted it that way.” Mel says, he breathes deeply and Macy feels him lean back towards her “How? How is she alive?” he asks, Mel sits on the coffee table in front of them, next to Maggie, “The elders lied to you, she was banished to Tartarus, not committed. Jada freed her from Tartarus when she stole the scythe.” She says quickly, her sister throws her a look, and she nods softly, Harry's back seems to be relaxing a little and she feels a little better breathing, “That trip I was on when Maggie found the Vortex, it was to find a stone that would restore her health and powers.”

“Harry, I’m so-“ she tries to tell him how sorry she was to hide this thing from him, how she wished she could have told him, how she wanted to tell him, “She didn’t want me to know that she was alive. Why?”he says, acting almost like he didn’t hear her, she pulls her hand away from his back, but before she manages to pull her hand completely away he reaches over and grips her hand tightly, “She thought you’d tell Charity, I tried telling Jada that you wouldn’t but she swore me, and when Maggie and I body switched Maggie went to the Sarcana to find out if she could trust them, Jada thought it was me.” 

“We couldn’t keep it from Macy, but we sworn to secrecy as well.” Maggie says, she sees a sad smile rising on his lips, “Well she wasn’t wrong, I would probably have told Charity.” He says and the grip on her hand loosens a little, but he pulls their hands closer to him, as he leans a little to her, his shoulder touching hers. “How did you found out?” she asks, Harry turns to her, there’s still some sadness in his eyes and she wonders if it will ever leave, “She came to see Charity.” He says, Macy feels horribly, this wasn’t the way to find out someone you cared for was alive, he had mourned for her, he buried her, and still to this day brought flowers to what now knows is an empty grave. He smiles sweetly, it doesn’t reach completely to his eyes, she wants to wrap her arms tightly around him, an insane need to run away with him, hide somewhere, anywhere away from the world.

“It’s okay.” He says softly, Macy grips his hand tightly “What will happen now? To you?” Maggie asks, she moves a little closer to him pulling their hands to her lap, “The elders want to talk to me, tomorrow…” He looks to the watch on his arm “later today.” 

“And?” Mel presses, Harry takes a deep breath, Macy can see him leaning back a little, weighting his next words carefully, “I am sure there will be some punishment, something.” Punishment, the word is ringing in her ears, all the possibilities all the horrible things that could happen to him. “But you did nothing wrong!” Maggie said, she pulls closer to her and Harry her hand cupping his knee “Charity knew,” he says, Macy feels a weight dropping in her stomach, “she knew about Macy and I, if she told the other elders.”Macy feels her breathing fasten, her lungs struggling to draw in air, she touches her sister’s shoulder, her thoughts loud as it goes “ _Go to the book of shadows find something to help Harry, there must be something there.”_ Maggie looks at her questioning, it’s not often that she lets her little sister to read her thoughts, it’s something that she actually actively avoids. Macy nods gently, Maggie smiles softly and turns to Mel “Mel, let’s go, we’ll find something in the book of shadows to help.” She says Mel stands up and starts walking to the stairs, “Ladies it’s-“

“Put a pin in it Harry!” Mel says, Macy bites her lip trying to stop the smile that was threatening to rise, they both watch Mel and Maggie get up the stairs and disappearing from their view before Harry turns to her, “I think your sisters wanted to leave us alone. You told Maggie to, didn’t you?” he says suddenly the empty room reminds her everything that happened, he’s still sitting close to her, his shoulder is still touching hers, “I didn’t want to…” she starts, but he takes her hand and shakes his head, “Macy, I know.”

“If that doesn’t earn me the world’s worse girlfriend then I don’t know what will.” She says looking away, she knew the day she would screw it up was coming she just hoped it would take her a little while longer, “Macy.” he cups her cheek, gently turning her head to face him, his eyes are soft, un accusing, it makes her feel even worse if this was possible, “It wasn’t your secret to tell, and you didn’t lie to me, because I never asked you.”

“Are you seriously finding loopholes for me now?” she says chuckling, he shrugs, a small smile forming on his lips reaching his eyes, she pulls her hand from under his and wraps both her arms around his shoulders, “I can’t lose you Harry, I can’t.” she says her voice muffled by his jacket, she feels him leaning forward, his nose pressing against her neck his hands tightening their grip on her jacket, she doesn’t want to let him go but she feels him pulling away. “I wish I could tell you, you won’t.” he says, his hands cupping her cheek and she leans towards his touch, “But I don’t know what the elders will do.”

It hits her very hard, she doesn’t want to lose him, not now, not ever. She reaches over and grips his lapels hard, pulling him closer, “I love you.” The words leave her lips before she can overanalyze them; she sees the shock wash over his face, his hands on her waist tightening their hold. “I love you too.” He says, his voice betrays the shock he probably still feels even though he did a good job hiding it from his face after the initial wash of it. 

She leans forward resting her forehead against his, her eyes closed, she feels him pulling her closer, he moved closer himself, his hands around her waist holding her tightly. She doesn’t want to move, she feels content here, she feels safe, but the lights outside flicker a little and the spell is broken, the reality of what they are facing hits her like a thousand rocks. They don’t have all the time in the world, the Elders are waiting just around the corner with their punishment of their perceived so called crimes. She pulls back and sees the disappointment in Harry's eyes as she does so, “We should go upstairs, help Maggie and Mel.”

�

She hoped the answer would be simple that there would be a spell, a potion something easy and simple to use, she childishly thought that the moment they got upstairs her sisters would have already found it, but instead Maggie looked grim, Mel was buried between the various books, both of them nodding no when they saw her.

“Macy.” Harry tries to grab her arm, she was pulling the books from the bookcase with a vicious force, but none gave her the answer, “Macy it will be okay.” He says when he finally manages to get hold of her, “You don’t know that.” She says through her teeth as she pulls away from him and back towards the book of shadows resting peacefully it seemed, on its stand amongst the chaos of books on the floor the three sisters had created.

“She’s right Harry, you don’t know that.” Mel says, her voice, although tired was still determined.

“Even the more reason to spend the night doing something else rather than looking for solutions that do not exist.” He says frustrated, Macy can hear what she came to learn was fear in his voice, he was truly afraid that he would not see them again and she came to realize that this was a non starter. Her hands touch the book; Maggie once called it ‘Magical Siri’ “Show me a way to protect Harry from the elders.” She says as clearly as she can and watches shocked the pages flipping quickly,”It looks like the solutions exist after all.” Macy says, the look of her sisters tells her that they probably had tried the exact same thing to no avail, she looks down at the page “It’s a summoning spell. For spirits” she says, her mind working fast to decode what that meant, she sees from the corner of her eye Harry jumping up from the chair he had sat on, “Absolutely not” he says taking a step towards her.

She looks behind her, the circular window, the sound of it shattering ringing in her ears, and suddenly it hit her, who else but an elder could help them.

“Marisol Vera, Hear these words, hear my cry,

Spirit from the other side.

Come to me, I summon thee,

Cross now the great divide.” she says the incantation almost in one breath, “What did you do Macy?” Harry says, his eyes open widely, before she can say anything a bright light fills the attic the light slowly starts swirling until they formed a figure, a vaguely familiar one. And slowly that figure of light starts having more of a shape, and then a face and before long the four of them found themselves staring at the form of Marisol Vera.

“Girls, why did you call me?” she asks taking a step towards them, “Wait.” Harry says, his face hard as he moves in front of them, in between the spirit and the sisters, Mel seemed ready to jump to his jugular, but Maggie held her back. “Who killed you?” he asks.

Marisol rolls her eyes, “Really Harry?” she says sounding like an annoyed mother, when Harry doesn’t budge she crosses her hands in front of her chest, “Your ex, the one I caught you having sex with in my office back in 2005!” Macy sees Harry winching visibly at the sound of Marisol’s words, his ears turning bright red, “Okay it’s really her.” He says turning to them, Macy tries really hard not to laugh at the sight of his face bright red from shame, “Ew!” Maggie says loudly, Harry winches visibly again and moves to stand behind Macy, his face hidden by the shadows of the room.

“It was.” Marisol says amused, she turns back to Macy taking a step closer, “Why did you call me here?” she asks again, Macy takes a deep breath, her hand searching for Harry's somewhere behind her, “We were looking for a way to protect Harry, from the Elders.” She says, he finds her hand and grips it tightly, moving a little closer, she can feel his breath on her neck, he’s now close enough to calm her irrational fear that he will disappear.

“Why?” she asks, it seems like she already knows the answer from the way her eyes scan the faces in the room, but Maggie takes the opportunity to answer this time, ”He’s being brought in for questioning tomorrow first thing in the morning.” Marisol nods and turns to Harry, “About?” she asks, Macy doesn’t know why, but she feels this crazy irrational need to move in between them, almost as if the spirit in front of her will do something, but Harry doesn’t seem to mind, he moves closer, his hand leaving hers momentarily before wrapping around her waist. 

“Charity.” He says in a matter of fact tone, “Probably my relationship with your daughter, who knows really.” He says Macy notices how her mother’s face changes slowly, the grim expression breaking and a mischievous smirk appearing on her lips. “Why are you smirking?”

“No reason.”

“You saw that didn’t you, you saw it happen?” Harry says Macy looks at her mother hopefully, “Did you mom?” she asks hopefully, “Yes.” Marisol says smiling sweetly, Macy notices how her smile changes from mischievous and teasing when she was talking to Harry, to sweet and proud when she turns to her.

“So how do we, you know…”

“There are some things that even the elders cannot overlook. One of them is a holly union, a higher connection that those mere mortals can give you.”

“A wedding?” Mel says in disbelief “The way to protect Harry is a wedding?”

“I don’t see-“

“Harry, put a pin in it!” Mel snaps at him,

“Melly!” Mel tenses when she hears their mother’s voice, Macy wanted to laugh at the sudden change in her sister’s behavior but she knows this tone too well to do such in front of the woman.

“Sorry mom.” Macy goes over what her mother said, she has to admit she agrees with Harry's sentiment, she doesn’t see how a wedding would really help Harry much in the situation, but she was at her rope’s end and couldn’t see anything else even remotely resembling a solution to their problems. She always thought she would have the white dress and the big party with lots of friends and relatives around when she was younger, and she was a little sad that she would apparently have to get married in a rush, in the middle of the night with two people and a ghost in attendance but she knows if the alterative is losing him she is fine with that. “Fine.” She says, Harry grips her hand tightly, “Macy.” he is already shaking his head, she knows what he will say even before he opens his mouth, “No, Harry,” she says before he says anything, she feels uncharacteristically bold as she cups his face, “you know I love you, if mom says that can help, then let’s do it. We were going to get married at some point anyway right mom?” she turns to her mother who’s biting her lip trying to stop the smile that’s still rising on her lips.

“Oh yeah, that will happen the timing is on you.”

“Exactly, and if the elders, if they decide to punish you then we might not get the time.” She says, Harry shakes his head, “You are a little overdramatic here Macy.” he says, “Am I?” she asks shocked, how could he think she was overdramatic, he knew what the Elders were like; “They wanted to let you rot in Tartarus Harry! And you had done nothing! Now that they perceive that you have committed ‘crimes’ I dread to think what they’ll do.”

“We don’t have long though so if you do want to do this you need to decide, now.” Marisol says looking at both of them, Macy nods “Yes.” She says determined, she catches glimpse of Maggie smiling widely, Mel has a smaller but equally supportive smile, she feels comfortable with her choice, this was what she wanted, this was what needed to be done.

“Macy,” Harry turns to her mother, “can we have a minute. That’s all.” Marisol nods before Harry leads her outside the attic and closes the door behind them, “What?”

“I don’t want you to think you have to do this.” He says, his hands take hers and he holds them close, “Marriage is a big step, a huge one and I don’t want you to take it lightly, or because you think I need protection. I’m not worth it.” He says the last part coming out of his lips with difficulty. Macy is taken aback by the admission, “Is that what you think?” she asks him, he shrugs looking down, almost ashamed to have thought that, she reaches over cupping his cheek forcing him to look at her, “Harry, you are more than worth it. I know it’s weird and way too soon and we haven’t talk about it at all, but I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d rather get married to.”

She sees the tears filling his eyes and she knows he must have seen the same in her eyes. Harry leans into her touch and she moves closer, “Alright.” He says.

Their kiss is salty from the tears they got tired trying to hold back, but neither minds about it, because in that small moment, everything around them seemed to not matter much. 

“So?” her mother asks them when they re-enter the attic.

“What do we need?” Harry asks, Marisol smiles widely and turns to Macy “Well for starters you need a dress” she says pointing at the slightly dirty shirt and pants Macy was still wearing, before turning to Harry, “and you Greenwood need a clean suit.” Harry looks down at his suit, it’s not overly dirty but he can feel the dried up sweat spots on his back and he knows he has quite a few dirt on his left side from the Vortex. “And then you need a high priestess.”

“Where are we going to find one at this hour?” Macy says worried, her mind going to Mama Roz, but looking at her watch she knows that no matter how nice the woman was she wouldn’t wake up and travel twenty minutes at 3a.m. for her.

“Well you are in luck.” Marisol says smiling at her oldest daughter; Harry leans to her ear and tells, “Marisol was a high priestess.”

“Still am Harry, still am.” Marisol walks closer to the pair of them and leads Macy away “Go change, I think there’s something here for Macy.” she says over her shoulder.

�

Harry looks down at Macy sleeping next to him, the last hour of their life was swirling in his mind, the moonlight falls on her ring, the gold metal shinning under the pale light. He touches the ring on his finger, it magically appeared, perfect fit, on his finger just a few hours ago and he already feels like belonged there all along. He can’t see how a marriage would help his predicament; in fact he can think about dozens of ways it will make it worse but he stopped fighting it, if his fate was to die then at least he would take pride in dying as Macy Vaughn’s husband.


End file.
